David Phelps' injury means the Yankees now need to add another starter

With David Phelps going on the 15-day disabled list on Monday, the Yankees now have the best injured starting five in all of baseball.

Phelps -- sidelined for at least two weeks, possibly up to a month, with tendinitis in his right elbow -- joined the growing list of Yankees pitchers to hit the shelf this season, alongside CC Sabathia, Michael Pineda, Masahiro Tanaka, and Ivan Nova. The team just can't catch a break.

The Yankees called up Matt Daley from Triple-A Scranton to take his place on the active roster, rather than bringing up one of their last remaining starting options in the minors, Bryan Mitchell. So it appears that Esmil Rogers, who tossed three scoreless innings on Sunday night, will get the ball on Friday night against the Indians with Pineda still a couple weeks away from returning.

Pineda pitched in his first rehab game on Sunday, and is probably looking at making two more starts to get stretched out before he's ready to pitch in the big leagues again. Assuming he makes it through those last two or three starts -- and you really have to go out on a limb to assume that -- the Yankees will be getting a big boost their rotation.

The second big arm they're waiting on next is Tanaka, who played catch on Monday for the first time since being shut down nearly a month ago. Tanaka said he felt great afterwards and that he'll throw again on today, as he's in the early stages of a long road back.

My guess is that Tanaka, if all goes well, will be back sometime in mid-to-late September, which would slot him back into the rotation just in time for the final stretch run at the playoffs.

But while getting Pineda and Tanaka back in time for a playoff run would be a much needed jolt for the rotation, it's not going to be enough to not only get in the playoffs, but probably not enough to take down a team like Detroit or Oakland, who built their pitching staff just for October.

It's easy to believe that the Yankees are a batter team with Phelps, who has held down a rotation stop pretty nicely since taking over for Pineda earlier this season. With him in the rotation with Brandon McCarthy, who has been everything the Yankees needed since coming over from Arizona, and Hiroki Kuroda, it sure looks a lot better than Rodgers in there with Shane Greene and Chris Capuano.

They might not have needed to get one at the trading deadline, but the Yankees now need to add a starter this month. Brian Cashman has done a great job so far this season making trades without giving up his biggest prospects, and we're going to need him work his magic one last time.

There are several quality starters that I expect to be place on waivers this month. Cole Hamels and Ian Kennedy are going be the biggest names, but probably too expensive for the Yankees to get. AJ Burnett and Bartolo Colon will probably be thrown out there, too, but I don't see any reunions happening here.

Really the two names that I'm looking for for a possible waiver deal are John Danks of the Chicago White Sox and the Astros' Scott Feldman. Both pitchers are owed a lot of money over the next few seasons, but if their teams are willing to eat some it, a deal might be worth making. And going on that same note, the Yankees are going to need starters for next season, and like I mentioned, both are signed for at least two years beyond 2014.

The Yankees' playoff hopes are far from over, just five games out in the AL East. But without another starter, their chances are very grim.

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Game 111: Facing Cy Young

After six games on the road against last place clubs, the Yankees are back home in Bronx where they welcome the AL Central-leading Detroit Tigers for a four game series that kicks off tonight at 7:05 p.m. in Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees return home after going 3-3 on that trip, which made stops in Texas and Boston. New York dropped three of the first four games before taking the final two games against the Red Sox over the weekend, including a 8-7 win last night at Fenway Park.

Detroit, meanwhile, comes in town town boasting one of the best offenses in baseball, scoring 4.74 runs per game. The Tigers are coming off of a three game sweep of the Colorado Rockies after dropping five of six games heading into that series over the weekend.

With the Tigers coming into Yankee Stadium, Yankees fans might get a chance to see Joba Chamberlain pitch against in the Bronx. The former Yankees reliever signed with Detroit during the offseason after spending the first seven years of his career in pinstripes. Well, it's almost the same guy coming back -- he's got a full-on beard on his face now.

Tonight's lineup against Detroit:

LF Brett Gardner
SS Derek Jeter
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
1B Mark Teixeira
DH Carlos Beltran
C Brian McCann
3B Chase Headley
2B Stephen Drew
RF Martin Prado

Pitching matchup preview:

Right-hander Brandon McCarthy gets the ball tonight for the Yankees in the series opener.

Acquired from Arizona in a trade at the beginning of July, McCarthy is 3-0 with a 2.55 ERA in pinstripes. He's turned into a great pickup by Brian Cashman, who only had to give up Vidal Nuno to get McCarthy. With everybody else in the rotation going down to injuries, he's been exactly what they needed.

McCarthy, though, is coming off his roughest outing with the Yankees, allowing four runs and nine hits in six innings against the Rangers on July 29.

The Yankees' offense will have a very tough task ahead of them over the next few days, facing the last three Cy Young awards winners, and it begins tonight with the reigning winner, right-hander Max Scherzer, who has a 5.17 ERA in three regular-season starts at Yankee Stadium.

Scherzer -- 5-0 with a 2.08 ERA over his last seven outings -- in is coming off of a start in which he tossed seven innings of one-run ball against the White Sox on Wednesday night at Comerica Park.

Yankee Notes:

* The Yankees have placed RHP David Phelps on the disabled list with tendinitis in his right arm. Phelps left Sunday night's start against the Red Sox after just two innings because of what the team was then calling inflammation in his elbow. Joe Girardi says that Phelps won't pick up a ball for two weeks.

In a corresponding move, the Yankees recalled RHP Matt Daley from Triple-A Scranton. With Phelps on the DL, the Yankees will need to find a start to Friday night against the Indians.

* Masahiro Tanaka played catch today, making 25 throws from 60 feet. He said that he felt good and didn't feel anything wrong with his elbow. He doesn't really know when he might be back, but will continue his path back to the mound by throwing again tomorrow.

* Michael Pineda almost certainly won't be the man pitching for the Yankees on Friday night. He threw 58 pitches in a rehab outing on Sunday, and Girardi doesn't think he's stretched out enough. Pineda told reporters that he'll pitch again on Friday, but isn't sure where it'll be.

* MLB announced today that Brett Gardner has been named the AL Player of the Week after hitting .478 (11-for-23) with three doubles, five homers, seven RBI, five walks and eight runs.

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Yankees 8, Red Sox 7: Yankees come-from-behind again to beat Boston

Brett freakin' Gardner, man. For the 5th time this week, the Yankees' outfielder went yard, this time a solo shot that gave the Bombers a one-run lead in the 6th, as they would hold on to defeat the Boston Red Sox, 8-7, on Sunday night at Fenway Park of the finale of a three-game series.

David Phelps started on the bump for the Yankees in this Sunday Night Baseball showdown, and he was, well, not good, giving up five runs in the first two innings.

Brock Holt and Dustin Pedroia opened the bottom of the 1st with back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners ahead of David Ortiz, who hit a sac-fly to score Holt, putting the Sox up 1-0. Phelps then walked Yoenis Cespedes and gave up a single to Mike Napoli to load the bases before Daniel Nava hit a two-run single to make it a 3-0 game. He got out of the inning a batter later when Xander Bogaerts grounded into a double play.

The Yankees came back to tie the game in the 2nd inning, getting all three runs back against Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz, who walked both Mark Teixeira and Brian McCann, and also served up a single to Carlos Beltran to load the bases with nobody out.

After Chase Headley struck out, Stephen Drew grounded into a fielder's choice at second base, scoring Teixeira for the Yankees' first run. Martin Prado drew a walk against Buchholz to again load the bases for Gardner, who hit a two-run double to right field to tie the game at 3-3.

In the bottom half of the 2nd, Holt grounded into a fielder's choice at second base after Christian Vasquez hit a one-out single, and then Pedroia hit a two-run homerun over The Monster off of Phelps to up Boston up 5-3.

Phelps was done after two innings, and everybody thought that is was because of the fact that he gave up five runs on six hits, while throwing 53 pitches in just two innings. However, the team later announced that he left because of right elbow inflammation, and that he be re-evaluated in New York this week. Sigh.

Drew connected with a double off of Buchholz in the 4th inning driving in McCann, who doubled to open the inning, to pull the Yankees to within a run.

But in the bottom half of the inning, with Chase Whitley now in the game for the injured Phelps, Ortiz hit a monster two-run homerun to center field that extended Boston's lead to 7-4. At this point, you were probably thinking, "can the Yankees actually win this?" Well, you probably also forgot that Buchholz was still on the mound for the Red Sox.

After retiring the first two batters of the 5th, Buchholz gave up a double to Beltran, who picked up two hits for the sixth game in-a-row, then walked McCann ahead of Headley, who hit an RBI double that scored Beltran. A batter later, it was Drew, the former Red Sox, that hit a game-tying two-run single to make it a 7-7 game.

Buchholz was done after giving up five runs on eight hits with five walks in five innings, giving the ball to Craig Breslow to open the 6th inning. A lefty-on-lefty matchup, Breslow served up an inning-opening homerun to Gardner, his 15th  -- FIFTEENTH -- homerun of the season, giving the Yankees to 8-7 lead that would go on to win with.

Following Phelps, Whitley gave up two runs in two innings of work, then the Yankees' bullpen showdown Boston for the final five innings. Esmil Rogers, making his Yankees debut after being claimed on waivers on Thursday, pitched three scoreless innings without giving up a hit. Dellin Betances did his thing in the 8th, striking out a pair. And then David Robertson closed things out in the 9th, picking up his 29th save of the season, even after walking Vasquez to open the frame.

The Yankees will head back home to the Bronx, where they will welcome the Detroit Tigers town, as the two teams will open up a four-game series on Monday night at 7:05 p.m. Brandon McCarthy will be on the mound for the Yankees, facing off against reigning Cy Yound award winner Max Scherzer.

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David Phelps exits game vs Red Sox with right elbow inflammation

The Yankees announced just moments ago that David Phelps left Sunday night's game against the Boston Red Sox after just two innings due to inflammation in his right now, and just because of the fact that he had given up five runs on six hits.

They say that he'll be re-evaluated in New York in the coming days to know just how bad things are.

With four starters already on the DL, this is the last thing that the Yankees need to deal with right now, having to lose another starting pitcher. When you hear elbow, you pretty much think Tommy John right away, so we can only hope it's not that.

There aren't many options for the Yankees right now. Maybe they call up Bryan Mitchell from Triple-A, or even throw Chase Whitley back into the rotation. You can also imagine that Brian Cashman will be working the waiver wire this month for any decent pitchers that might be out there.

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Yankees 2, Rangers 4: One bad inning hurts David Phelps and the Yanks

Entering an important week for the New York Yankees, playing six games against last place ball clubs with the trading deadline mixed in, the Bombers' road trip did not get off to a great start. After taking an early 2-0 lead against starter Yu Darvish, the Rangers came back to score four runs in the 5th, which was all they needed in a 4-2 win over the Yanks on Monday night in Arlington.

Let's get the positive note out of the way: with three hits tonight, Derek Jeter reached 3,420 career hits, which put him ahead of Carl Yastrzemski for 7th on the all-time hits list. So congrats to Jeter.

The Yankees collected 11 hits in the game, but only managed to score two runs, and they might not have done that if Brett Gardner wasn't in the lineup for them to face Darvish, who in case you haven't heard is owned by Gardner, who has four career hits against the Japanese ace -- all four homerun, including two on Monday.

Both solo homeruns, the first put the Yankees up 1-0  in the 3rd inning on a shot to right field. The second, which came in the 5th, was a blast to center field, putting the Bombers up 2-0, giving David Phelps a decent, but not great lead to work with.

Phelps was cruising along nicely through the first four inning, throwing just 55 pitches. Phelps had only given up three hits before reaching the 5th, where things got ugly.

Chris Gimenez opened the inning with a single before Phelps retired the next two hitters, making it seem like it would be another short inning. However, Gimenez had moved to second on a grounded, then scored on a Elvis Andrus double to put the Rangers on the board. Alex Rios, who the Yankees have looked at, singled a batter later to put runners on the corners, then Adrian Beltre doubled to score Andrus as the tying run. Phelps walked Jim Adduci to load the bases, then JP Arencibia drove in Beltran and Rios on a singles to put the Rangers up 4-2. All of that with two outs.

The nightmare inning for Phelps finally ended a batter later, and he followed up with scoreless 6th inning to finish off his night, in which he was charged with four runs on eight hits, walking one and striking out three on 96 pitches (66 strikes).

His counterpart, Darvish, was not overly phased by the two Gardner homeruns. He still managed to get through seven innings, giving up just the two runs on seven hits, with a walk and eight strikeouts.

After Phelps, Shawn Kelley came out of the bullpen for Joe Girardi, tossing 1 2/3 scoreless innings, giving up just two hits. And then Matt Thornton was called upon to get the final out of the 8th, which he did by striking out Rougned Odor.

Some game notes: Brian McCann was at first base yet again with Mark Teixeira out, and all I can say is that the Yankees are far better defensively with Teixeira at first ..... speaking of Teixeira, he came off of the bench to pinch-hit in the 8th inning for Brian Roberts and singled to left field in the at-bat; I'd have to guess that Tex will be in the lineup on Tuesday ..... Gardner and Jeter at the top of the lineup tonight: 6-for-9 with three extra-base hits and no strikeouts, while the rest of the lineup:  5-for-28 with no extra-base hits and eight strikeouts.

The Yankees and Rangers continue this three game series on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. ET. Brandon McCarthy will be on the mound for the Bombers, while the Rangers will counter with right-hander Nick Martinez.

(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

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Game 105: Big week ahead for the Yankees

The Yankees have a big week coming up with a pair of series against last place ball clubs, with the July 31 trading deadline in the middle of that on Thursday, and it beings tonight with the first of three games against the Texas Rangers down in Arlington.

The Rangers, as you know, were just in the Bronx last week, where they lost three of their four games against the Yankees. Texas followed that up by losing two of three to the Oakland Athletics over the weekend, and come into tonight's game having last seven of ten since the All-Stare break.

New York, meanwhile, won seven of their first eight games following the break before dropping the final two games to the Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend. After a good series against Cincinnati, the Yankees' offense suddenly stopped hitting against both the Rangers and Blue Jays. Maybe that'll change this week, because it really needs to.

Short preview tonight, so I'm just going to let you know that David Phelps and Yu Darvish are the starting pitchers tonight. You know the story with them. Those two faced off last week in New York, the Yankees won that game, 2-1, in just five innings thanks to Mother Nature.

Tonight's lineup vs Texas: 

Brett Gardner CF
Derek Jeter SS
Brian McCann 1B
Carlos Beltran DH
Chase Headley 3B
Francisco Cervelli C
Brian Roberts 2B
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Zoilo Almonte LF

* The Yankees recalled Almonte from Triple-A Scranton before tonight's game, while designating LHP Jeff Francis for assignment.

* The Yankees are hoping that Mark Teixeira will play tomorrow night.

“If I wake up tomorrow and have back spasms (then it won’t happen),” Teixeira said. “But I don’t expect that to happen. I feel very good right now. I expect to have a very good BP today and be in there tomorrow. … The back spasms are gone, which I’ve been dealing with for a long time, so that’s really good. Good to see that the treatments worked, and the time off helped, so hopefully they won’t come back.”

* Just an off-day for Jacoby Ellsbury tonight because Joe Girardi doesn't want to overwork him. It's likely that Gardner will also get a day off this week.

“I’ve got to check with Gardy and see how he’s doing tomorrow,” Girardi said. “This long stretch — the heat, the day games, the 14-inning game — I don’t want one of these guys to get hurt. They’re really important to our lineup. So maybe Gardy will get a day off. Maybe he won’t, but maybe he will.”

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Yankees 2, Rangers 1 (F/5): Yankees beat Darvish in rain-shortened game

The Yankees entered Wednesday night's game at Yankee Stadium struggling mightily at the plate to the tune of just four runs in 23 innings over the past two games against the Rangers.

With Yu Darvish on the mound, one might think the Yankees were in real trouble. Of course, conventional wisdom doesn't apply to the 2014 Yankees.  New York defeated Darvish and the Rangers, 2-1, in a rain-shortened 4 1/2 innings Wednesday night.

The Yankees sent David Phelps to the mound and he was outstanding once again, as he picked up his fifth win of the season and lowered his ERA to 3.77. Phelps allowed just one run in five innings, while striking out three on 72 pitches -- 44 strikes. Darvish recorded one out in the fifth inning before the torrential rainfall began.

The Rangers ace surrendered four hits, two runs and five strikeouts on 72 pitches -- 48 strikes. Phelps and Darvish both put up two scoreless innings to start the game, as both offenses’ looked rusty after Tuesday night's 14-inning marathon.

 Leonys Martin and Chris Gimenez opened the third inning with back-to-back singles to put runners at the corners, Rougned Odor followed by grounding into a double play to score Martin to give Texas a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the inning, Francisco Cervelli led off with double down the left field line for the Yankees first hit of the night. Brendan Ryan grounded out to second to move Cervelli to third and the Yankee catcher was able to tie the game on a Darvish balk.

The next batter, Brett Gardner homered off Darvish to right field to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead. The solo blast was Gardner's career-high 10th home run of the season, which tied the Yankee outfielder for second on the team in home runs with Carlos Beltran and Brian McCann.

The Yankees will look to finish off a series win in Thursday's afternoon start at 1:05 p.m. Brandon McCarthy will be on the mound for New York, while Colby Lewis will take the hill for Texas.

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Game 100: Facing Yu Darvish

The Yankees went 18 innings between scoring runs before Jacoby Ellsbury tied the game in the 13th inning last night with an RBI single after the Yanks had fallen behind, 1-0, in the top of the 13th -- ironically, Ellsbury drove in the last Yankees run on Monday night with solo homerun.

Neither team really deserved to win last night's game on a count of how bad the Rangers played and how bad the Yankees' lineup struggled. But in the end, the team with the most runs win, and that just happened to be the Yankees, even if it took nearly five hours.

Let's just hope somebody can score in the first nine innings tonight.

Tonight's lineup against Texas:

LF Brett Gardner
SS Derek Jeter
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
DH Carlos Beltran
1B Brian McCann
3B Chase Headley
RF Ichiro Suzuki
C Francisco Cervelli
2B Brendan Ryan

* Michael Pineda will throw a simulated game tomorrow. The plan is for him to toss two innings or 30 pitches -- which ever comes first.

* McCann is going to play first base while Mark Teixeira is out, day-to-day, with a light lat strain.

Pitching matchup preview:

David Phelps has been pitching pretty well since rejoining the Yankees' rotation this season, and he hopes to continue his success tonight when he faces the Rangers in the third of four games against the Texas club at Yankee Stadium this week.

Phelps is seeking just his 5th win of the season, but he has worked six innings or more in each of his three July outings, and he's 1-0 with a 2.33 ERA in that span.

Phelps kicked off the second half of the season with a win over the Cincinnati Reds last Friday, giving up two runs on six hits in 6.1 innings.

The Yankees have had a tough time hitting pitchers that you've never heard of the past two games, so it's probably not a good thing that they're facing Yu Darvish tonight, as he goes for his 10th win of the season for the third year in a row.

Darvish is coming off of a win against the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday, where he struck out 12 and gave up one run in 6.2 innings. This'll be fun to watch.

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Yankees 4, Reds 3: Jacoby Ellsbury's go-ahead homerun gets the Bombers past Cincy

The Yankees are off to a good start in the season half of the 2014 season.

David Phelps opened up the second half with 6.1 innings of solid pitching, and thanks to a go-ahead homerun by Jacoby Ellsbury in the 5th, the Yankees beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-3, on Friday night at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

The Yankees took a quick 1-0 lead in the 1st inning on a Brian McCann RBI double. Brett Gardner walked to open the inning, the stole second base after a back-to-back outs by Derek Jeter and Ellsbury. After Mark Teixeira walked, McCann doubled to center field, scoring Gardner.

The two teams pretty much went back and forth scoring throughout the game.

Brayan Pena hit his first of two homeruns on the night against Phelps two innings later, in the 3rd, which put the Reds on the board and evened up the score at 1-1.

In the bottom half of the 3rd, Jeter and Ellsbury opened with back-to-back singles, then a few batters later, Carlos Beltran knocked an RBI single into center field to put the Yankees back up by a score of 2-1.

The Reds didn't trail for very long, though, as Zack Cozart lead off the 4th with a single. Todd Frazier grounded into a fielder's choice, then moved to third base on a groundout. Devin Mesoraco reached on an error by Jeter, which score Cozart to again tie the game.

An inning later, in the 5th, Jeter opened with a single for this second hit of the game, then a batter later, Ellsbury blasted a 1-1 fastball from Leake into the right field seats, putting the Yankees up 4-2, a lead that they would be able to cling into until the final out.

Leake was still able to get through seven innings for Cincinnati, giving up four runs on eight hits, with two walks and five strikeouts on 110 pitches.

Cruising into the 7th, Phelps gave up another solo homerun to Pena, which made it a one-run game. Phelps then gave up a single to Chris Heisey before retiring Ramon Santiago. That's where Joe Girardi decided to end Phelps' night and bring in Dellin Betances, who retired the next two batters, including a strikeout of Cozart on a 99 mph fastball up in the zone to end the inning.

I didn't see most of his start, but I understand that Phelps was pitching a pretty good game. Girardi probably could have left him in a couple of batters longer. Still, he tossed 6 1/3 innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on six hits, with a walk and seven strikeouts. As long as the Yankees can start hitting, they might just have a chance to compete with more quality outings like this.

Betances came back out for the 8th, and struck out the first two hitters in a three up, three down inning, lowering his ERA to 1.42 on the year.

David Robertson took over in the 9th, set down the first two hitters he faced before Heisey ripped a two-out single into left field, then got Santiago to pop out to end the ballgame to seal his 24th save of the season.

The Yankees and Reds will continue this three-game series tomorrow afternoon at 1:05 pm ET with Alfredo Simon and Brandon McCarthy on the mound.

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Game 95: First game of second half

With only 68 games to go in the regular season, the Yankees will be back in the Bronx to start the second half of the season against the Cincinnati Reds tonight.

The Yankees enter tonight's contest with a 47-47 record, five games behind first-place Baltimore. The Reds sit at third place in the four-team race for the National League Central Division Title. Cincinnati is just 1.5 games behind the Brewers, who despite recent struggles, still hold on to first place.

The Reds entered the All Star Break as winners of seven of 10, while the Yankees are 5-5 over their last 10 games as they try to overcome the inconsistency that has plagued the Bronx Bombers in the first half of the season.

Tonight's lineup against Cincinnati:

LF Brett Gardner
SS Derek Jeter
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
1B Mark Teixeira
 C Brian McCann
DH Carlos Beltran
RF Ichiro Suzuki
2B Brian Roberts
3B Kelly Johnson

Pitching matchup preview:

David Phelps will be on the mound for the Yankees against Mike Leake for the Reds. Phelps has a 3-4 record with a 3.94 ERA this season and has been especially good in July, as he has allowed just three earned runs in 13 innings pitched in the month for a 2.08 ERA. 

Leake is 7-7 in 2014 with a 3.54 ERA. In parts of the last three years, Phelps has always been there for the Yankees when they need him with a 13-13 record and a 4.05 ERA.

He's been leaned on a lot this year with 13 starts and 22 total appearances to match his appearance total for 2013. This season, however, he has allowed 86 hits in 89 innings with 76 strikeouts, 36 walks, 10 home runs allowed and a WHIP of 1.37.

Phelps' strikeouts per nine innings have gone down to 7.69 this year from a career-high 8.20 last season and his home runs allowed per nine innings have gone up from 0.83 last season to 1.01. His BABIP has gone down to .293 from a mark of .321, as he has dropped his ERA from a career-high 4.98 in 2013.

Phelps has just one career appearance against the Reds in his career. Back in 2012, he allowed one unearned run and one hit, while walking one and striking out three in two innings.

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Yankees 3, Indians 9: Bullpen implodes to give up seven unanswered runs

The Yankees took a 3-0 lead over the Cleveland Indians on Thursday night. Sometime around the 6th inning, Brian Cashman held a conference call with reporters to announce that Masahiro Tanaka has been diagnosed with a partial tear of his UCL. That's when things started go south for the Bombers.

The Indians put up four runs in the 7th inning against David Phelps and Matt Thornton to take a one-run lead, and nine runs unanswered in all, as they would defeat the Yankees, 9-3, in the final game of a four-game series at Progressive Field.

Zelous Wheeler put the Yankees on the board in the top of 4th inning with a solo homerun to left field, just curving it around the foul pole for a two-run shot that gave the Yanks a 2-0 lead. The homerun -- Wheeler's second since being called up last week -- brought in Francisco Cervelli, who hit a one-out single to reach base.

Cervelli would scored the Yankees' third run of the night an inning later, making it a 3-0 game. TJ House, who was lifted after giving up three runs on eight hits in 4 2/3 innings, hit Cervelli on the right knee with a wild slider, putting him on first base with two outs. Wheeler singled to keep the two-out rally going, putting runners on first and second base, then Yangervis Solarte, who was called up from Triple-A before the game after the Yankees put Carlos Beltran on the 7-day concussion DL, brought back the Solarte Party with an RBI single to left field.

Phelps was doing a great job of protecting the Yankees' lead and keeping them in the game for most of the night. He gave up a hit in each of the first five innings, but nothing more then that. The worst inning of Phelps' night was the one that ended it, when he Chris Dickerson and Roberto Perez opened the 7th inning with back-to-back singles. Joe Girardi decided that was enough, taking the ball from Phelps and giving it to Matt Thornton.

Phelps lasted six-plus innings, he was charged with two runs on seven hits, with three walks and five strikeouts. Phelps has been pitching a lot better over the past couple of weeks, and it was a shame that he couldn't get the win for this outing tonight.

Jason Kipnis reached on an infield single against Thornton to load the bases, then a batter later, Asdrubal Cabrera hit a bases-clearing triple to tie the game at 3-3. Michael Brantley followed with a sac-fly to center field that scored Cabrera, putting the Indians up 4-3. It only got worse from there.

That was the end of Thornton's night. I though he would be a decent arm in the bullpen this season, replacing Boone Logan as the team's LOOGY, but that's hasn't been the case.

Jim Miller took over on the mound with just one out in the 7th, and guess what, he's not a very good pitcher. He worked the final two outs of the inning, but then the Indians blew the game open against him in the 8th, scoring five runs on five hits. Perez hit a two-run homerun that was ruled a homerun after video replay showed it hitting off of the top of the left field wall, making it a 6-3 game. A couple batters later, Brantley singled him Kipnis to extend the lead to 7-3. The Carlos Santana followed with a towering two-run homerun to deliver the final dagger, pushing the lead up to 9-3.

As you would expect, the Yankees went down quietly in the 9th to end the game.

They'll now fly out to Baltimore for a three-game series against the Orioles that'll take them into the All-Star break, which could not come soon enough. Hiroki Kuroda -- the only Yankees starter from the Opening Day rotation not on the DL right now -- and Miguel Gonzalez will be the pitching matchup for the 7:05 pm ET start.

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Game 91: Yangervis Solarte returns

The Yankees have just four games left before the All-Star break that starts on Monday. This team, more than ever, could really use those four days off next week, with injuries and tired bullpen arms taking over the team.

The Yankees and Indians played 14 innings last night, with the Bombers prevailing, 5-4, thanks to a solo homerun in the top of the 14th by Jacoby Ellsbury Brandon McCarthy, making his Yankees debut, last 6.2 inning, then it was the bullpen that went till the very end.

As the entire city waits on the edge of it's seat to hear from LeBron James and whether or not he'll be taking his talents back to Cleveland, the Yankees and Indians will complete this four-game series tonight, and the Yanks will look to take three of the four game before heading to Baltimore for a series against the Orioles.

Tonight's lineup against Cleveland:

LF Brett Gardner

SS Derek Jeter

CF Jacoby Ellsbury

1B Mark Teixeira

DH Brian McCann

C Francisco Cervelli

3B Zelous Wheeler

RF Yangervis Solarte

2B Brendan Ryan

* Solarte is back! The Yankees recalled him from Triple-A Scranton this afternoon, while placing Carlos Beltran on the 7-day concussion DL after taking a ball off of his face during batting practice yesterday. Solarte went 12-for-20 with four extra-base hits during his brief trip to Scranton.

Pitching matchup preview:

With Masahiro Tanaka in the DL, the Yankees are going to need pitchers to start stepping up and filling the void left by the team's ace, and that starts with David Phelps tonight.

3-4 with a 4.01 ERA this season, Phelps is looking to build off of his last start, when he allowed just one run on three hits in seven innings against the Minnesota Twins.

TJ House will take the mound for Cleveland tonight. House is coming off of his first Major League win, in which he allowed three earned runs in 6 2/3 innings against the Kansas City Royals.

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Yankees 1, Twins 2 (F/11): Yanks find a new way to lose in extra-innings

Offense had been the theme of the series in the first two games between the Yankees and Twins this weekend, with the Bomber breaking out for 13 runs in their first two contests in Minnesota. However, that was not the case on Saturday, as both teams were locked into a pitcher's duel that ended with the Twins winning, 2-1, in extra-innings on Saturday afternoon.

The game stayed scoreless through the first four innings until the Yankees finally broke through with a run in the 5th. Carlos Beltran walked to open the inning, giving the Yankees their second baserunner of the game, then Ichiro Suzuki, who singled in the 2nd inning to be the first, grounded into a fielder's choice at first base with Beltran being out at second base. After Alfonso Soriano struck out, Ichiro stole second base (replay showed he was out, but the Twins never challenged), moved to third on a wild pitch, then scored on a Francisco Cervelli single, putting the Yankees up 1-0.

The Yankees held that 1-0 lead for a couple of innings until Josh Willingham, who much really like hitting against the Yankees, hit a solo homerun off of David Phelps to open the bottom of the 7th, evening the game at 1-1.

Because of that game-tying homerun, Phelps was no longer in line to take home the win, even though he had pitched, really, really well in his game, giving the Yankees some much needed innings after Chase Whitley only went three innings on Friday. Phelps was charged for just the run on three hits, with two walks and three strikeouts on 107 pitches in seven innings of work.

On the other side of the field, Yohan Pino was impressive for the Twins, too, holding the Yankees to a run on three hits, while also walking two and striking out three. You could say that he pitched well enough to pick up his first big league win, but it wasn't meant to be this afternoon.

Shawn Kelley gave up two hits and struck out four in two innings of work behind Phelps to help get the game to extra innings. Kelley wasn't getting help from his defense in the 7th when Soriano, who finished 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, dropped two balls hit by the same batter, Brian Dozier, to open the inning. The second fell in for a hit, but nothing came out of it for the Twins.

Derek Jeter put the Yankees in a good position to take the lead in the 10th inning, singling with two outs then stealing second base. But Brian Roberts, the Player of the Game on Friday, grounded out to end the inning.

Matt Thornton opened the 10th inning on the mound for the Bombers, giving up a leadoff single to Sam Fuld, but retired the next three batters to end the inning. In the bottom of the 11th, Chris Coballeo opened with a pinch-hit double off of the very top of the right-field walk -- was almost a homerun -- and moved to third on a ground a batter later. The Yankees then walked Willingham, and Thornton hit Oswaldo Garcia to load the bases with one out. Trevor Plouffe hit a weak ground ball in from of the pitcher's mound. Thornton flipped the ball to the plate for the first out, then Cervelli's throw to first to complete the double play sailed well wide of the base, going down to right field line to score the game-inning run for Minnesota.

That was certainly a disappointing way to lose a baseball games, and it ended the Yankees' short two-game losing streak, and their streak of seven straight unbeaten games at Target Field. They come back to tomorrow with a chance to win the series. Hiroki Kuroda and Ricky Nolasco will be on the mound for their teams.

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Game 86: Going for three straight

After getting the Fourth of July off, Derek Jeter is back in the Yankees' lineup this afternoon as the Bombers look to make it three straight wins over the Minnesota Twins to begin this four-game series at Target Field. The Twins plan to honor Jeter before the game today. Last year, they gave Mariano Rivera rocking chair made out of bats he broke in his career and called it the "Chair of Broken Dreams."

That was a really cool gift -- maybe the best of his farewell tour -- so it'll be interesting to see what Minnesota gives Jeter today.

The Yankees won the battle of the bullpens yesterday, with starter Chase Whitley only going three innings. David Huff was perfect in his three innings of work -- I started thinking about what would happen if the Yankees give Huff a chance to start, then I remembered how that worked out last season -- then Adam Warren, Dellin Betances and David Robertson finished off the final three innings.

With the loss to the Bombers yesterday, the Twins fell to 0-7 in their last seven games against the Yankees at Target Field. It's basically the Yanks' home away from home.

Today's lineup against Minnesota:

SS Derek Jeter
2B Brian Roberts
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
1B Mark Teixeira
DH Carlos Beltran
RF Ichiro Suzuki
LF Alfonso Soriano
C Francisco Cervelli
3B Zelous Wheeler

* Brian McCann was a late scratch from the lineup today because of some soreness in his foot that also kept him out of Friday's game. Joe Girardi thought that McCann would be good to go, but that was obvisouly not the case. The lineup has been moved a around: Jeter will now lead off rather than Ellsbury, and Roberts will slot in the No. 2 spot, where he hit yesterday.

We saw something happen to McCann during Thursday night's game after reaching first base on a single, but he stayed in the game and everything was fine for the rest of the night. Don't really know the problem other than that it's sore.

Pitching matchup preview:

Maybe David Phelps could give the Yankees some innings today and let the bullpen have a nice easy day off. Phelps will be on the mound for the Bombers this afternoon, and has been pitching well lately, allowing two or fewer runs in three of his last four starts.

Phelps is coming off of a no-decision against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium this past week, when he gave up two runs on four hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Rookie right-hander Yohan Pino will be taking the mound for the Twins today, looking for his first career victory after going winless in his first three starts.

Pino allowed four runs on seven hits over 5 2/3 innings in his last outing against the Kansas City Royals on Monday.

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Yankees 3, Rays 4 (F/12): Brian Roberts comes up clutch, but Bombers fall in extras

With Rob Refsnyder breathing down his neck, Brian Roberts, for the moment, saved the Yankees' night with a solo homerun in the 9th inning with the Bombers down by a run, tying up the score. The Yankees and Rays would go to extra innings, where Tampa Bay beat New York, 4-3, in 12 innings on Monday night.

David Phelps, who came into the game 2-0 with a 2.81 ERA in eight career appearances (four starts) against the Rays, gave up a pair of solo homeruns early in the game that put Tampa up 2-0. The first off the bat of Matt Joyce, who hit one to right field with two outs in the 1st, and then two innings later, in the 3rd, when Kevin Kiermaier lead off the inning with a solo blast of his own to right field.

The two homeruns were the worst parts of Phelps' night, as he wasn't that bad overall on the mound. Tampa only got to him with four hits, two of them dingers, in 5 2/3 innings. He also walked three and struck out four on 101 pitches.

Luckily enough, Phelps didn't have to take the loss because the Yankees' lineup wold come back to tie the game in the bottom half of the 3rd inning.

Ichiro Suzuki was hit by Chris Archer pitch to open the frame, then Brett Gardner hit an RBI triple into the right field corner -- his 5th of the year -- to put the Bombers on the board. The next batter, Derek Jeter, grounded out to the second baseman, Logan Forsythe, to even up the score.

Offensively, both teams were pretty quite throughout the night. If you're a fan of offense, this game was definitely not for you.

Archer, who started on the mound for Tampa Bay, was very impressive, as is usually the case when he starts against the Yankees. Outside of the third inning, they had trouble putting things together against him. He only gave up the two runs on five hits, with two walks and four strikeouts peppered in across seven innings. Because the Yankees tied the game in the 9th, it took away Archer's chance at becoming the first pitcher since Walter Johnson to win his first five career starts against the Yankees.

After working out of a two on, two out situation in the 6th inning when he took over for Phelps, Adam Warren pitched out of another big jam in the 7th, this one with the bases loaded and two outs -- Kiermaier singled, then Warren issued walks to Desmond Jennings and Ben Zobrist. Warren was lucky enough to get out of this one, too, inducing a groundout to first base by Matt Joyce to end the inning.

Dellin Betances, who has been used often recently, started on the mound in the 8th. After getting the first two outs of the inning, he walked Brandon Guyer and Forsythe. Joe Girardi clearly didn't trust him to go any further, taking him out of the game in favor of David Robertson. When I say that Betances has been used a lot lately I mean it -- 109 pitches in 4 outings over 7 days. Girardi is usually good with his bullpen, but his overuse of Betances is something to look at.

The Rays made Betances and the Yankees pay for those two outs walks, as Robertson was greeted by Ryan Hanigan, who promptly singled into center field to score Guyer, putting the Rays up 3-2. Robertson retired Kiermaier, then tossed a scoreless 9th inning.

The Yankees tried putting something together against Rays left-hander Jake McGee in the bottom half of the 8th inning. Jacoby Ellsbury singled with one out, then two batters later, Brian McCann dumped a two-out single into left field, putting runners on the corners. However, Carlos Beltran ended the rally with a pop-out to the catcher behind the plate.

Roberts tied up the game with a solo homerun in the bottom of the 9th inning, sending the game in extra innings, where the Yankees would have a very good chance tow in the game in the 10th inning after Jeter singled to open the inning. He stole second base on a Mark Teixeira struck out, and then McCann struck out to end the inning.

Shawn Kelley tossed two scoreless innings, working out of a big bases loaded jam in the 11th inning by striking out back-to-back hitters to end the frame.

Forsythe drove in the game-winning run in the top of the 12th inning, singling to center field to score Guyer, who walked then stole second base against Jose Ramirez, who was on the bump to pitch the inning, putting the Rays up 4-3. The Yankees, as you would imagine, went down quietly in the bottom of the 12th.

At the midway point of the season, the Yankees are 41-40. Looking to stay above .500, Hiroki Kuroda will face off with David Price on Tuesday night at 7:05 pm.

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Yankees 6, Blue Jays 7: Defensive mistakes doom the Bombers in loss to Toronto

The Yankees fell behind by six runs, somehow came back to tie the game, denying Mark Buehrle his second career victory against the Yanks, but the Toronto Blue Jays were able to walk it off in the bottom of the 9th, defeating the Yankees, 7-6, on Tuesday night at the Rogers Centre, adding another game to their lead over the Bombers in the AL East.

The Blue Jays struck first against Phelps in the 4th inning on a big blast by Dioner Navarro. Adam Lind and Edwin Encarnacion reached on singles to begin the innings, then two batters later, Navarro took Phelps deep to right field for his fourth homerun of the season, putting Toronto up 3-0 -- a deficit that seemed pretty hard for the Yankees' offense to overcome.

Toronto doubled their lead an inning later in the 5th, mostly due to a mental mistake made by Derek Jeter with two outs in the inning. After Munenori Kawasaki and Jose Reyes singled to open the frame, Phelps set down the next two Jays, but with two down, Encarnacion hit a groundball to Jeter, who must have forgotten how many outs there were, as he looked to third, and then to second before firing a later throw to first, loading the bases.

With Toronto now in a better position to do some damage, Colby Rasmus hit a long single off of the top of the right field wall, clearing the bases to make it a 6-0 game.

Phelps finished off of the inning, but that was all he would see. Pitching pretty well before he entered the 4th inning, Phelps was charged with all six runs in eight hits and a walk, with seven strikeouts for the second start in a row.

Jeter began the Yankees' comeback in the 6th inning by making up for his defensive mistake, hitting a solo homerun off of Buehrle, his second long ball of the season, putting the Yankees on the board to make it a 6-1 game. Defense aside, Jeter has been swinging the bat well lately, and is starting to actually help the Yankees there.

In the 7th, Brian McCann hit a one-out double, his second base hit of the night, then a batter later, Brian Roberts hit a homerun, a two-run shot that would have tied the game if not for Jeter in the 5th, pulling the Yankees to within 6-3 -- it was Roberts' 3rd of the season, first since May 25.

Buehrle rebounded by retiring Yangervis Solarte, who collected a base hit in his first at-bat, but hit night ended a batter later when Brett Gardner doubled off of him with two outs.

Dustin McGowan took over for Buehrle, who was no longer in line for his first win over the Yankees in 10 years after giving up four runs on eight hits in 6.2 innings, and he walked Jeter to begin his night, then served up an RBI single to Jacoby Ellsbury, scoring Gardner, then Mark Teixeira hit s ground ball to Reyes, who's throw bounced, which lead to Teixeira running into Encarnacion at first base, and as the ball got by, two runs score to tie the game at 6-6.

After Matt Thornton's scoreless 6th inning, Dellin Betances took over in the 6th, set down the Jays in order without recording a strikeouts (odd, indeed), then ran into some trouble in the 7th, where he worked his way out of a bases loaded jam with one away, getting a force out at home, and a strikeout to end the inning.

Then on to the 9th, the Yankees failed to score when Gardner opened the inning with a single, but the Blue Jays didn't fail to do so in the bottom half of the inning. Reyes lead off with a double against Adam Warren, then Melky Cabrera dropped down a bunt, to which Solarte's throw to first was off target, going down the right field line, scoring Reyes to win the game for the Blue Jays.

The Yankees have now dropped three straight as they head into the series final with Toronto on Wednesday night. Hiroki Kuroda will be on the mound for the Yankees, facing off against Drew Hutchinson at 7:07 pm ET.

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