Yankees designate Alfonso Soriano for assignment

If you weren't already giddy about the Yankees sending away Vidal Nuno to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for Vidal Nuno, then this ought to do the trick: the Yankees also announced on Sunday that they have essentially cut ties with outfielder Alfonso Soriano, designating him for assignment.

Soriano, who has been a disaster at the plate this season, was DFA'd so the Yankees could add a bring arm to their bullpen, bringing up right Bruce Billings from Triple-A Scranton. The Yankees now have 10 days to trade, release or waive him.

"We designated Soriano, which is extremely difficult because he's been a great Yankee and been a great player," Manager Joe Girardi said. "We felt we needed some more pitching today, so we called up Billings. Bullpen has been extremely taxed."

The Yankees were only on the hook for $2 million of Soriano's contract this season, so getting rid of him isn't really a hard pill to swallow for the team.

Soriano gave the Yankees a big jolt in the lineup after acquiring from the Cubs last season, hitting 17 homeruns with 50 RBIs in 58 games. But he was awful this season, as he hit just .221 in 67 games with the Yankees this season, with no homeruns in the past month.

This was a move pretty much expected to happen at any time.

With Carlos Beltran moving into a DH-only role because of his elbow injury, the Yankees were forced to use Soriano on a much more day-to-day basis, getting him more at-bats than they probably had planned before the season.

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Yankees' bats come alive in win over the Red Sox

By: Gavin Ewbank | Lead Writer

There's no other way to look at it: Michael Pineda is all but certain to be the Yankees' fifth starter this season. In his second start of spring training, Pineda added to his brilliant spring resume by tossing 4.1 scoreless innings in the Yankees' 8-1 win over the Tuesday Boston Red Sox Tuesday afternoon in Tampa.

The Yankees used a four-run inning against Red Sox starter Felix Doubront to put them ahead big early in the game, and they never looked back, beating Boston in the first of two spring meetings.

Pineda looked just as sharp as he has all spring. He struck out five in before hitting his 60-pitch limit with one out in the 5th inning, giving up just four hits and no walks.

In 9 innings pitched this spring, Pineda has struck out 14 while issuing just one walk. One very noticeable thing is that when he misses on pitch, it's usually down in the strike zone, which is a good thing. I don't know how he wouldn't be named the fifth starter at this point.

The Yankees jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the 1st inning on a soft liner to center field off the bat of Alfonso Soriano, who is coming into form after missing a decent chunk of time early in camp with the flu. After flying out the wall in center field in his second at-bat of the game, Soriano hit a three-run homerun to left field in his third at-bat, which extended the Yankees' lead to 8-0.

Soriano went 2-for-4 in the game with four RBIs. I have liked the way he's been swinging the bat this spring, and don't have any worries about him be a more-than-half decent hitter in the Bronx this season.

The Yankees did most of their damage against Doubront and the Sox in the four-run 2nd inning.

Both Ichiro Suzuki, who hasn't played too badly this spring, and Derek Jeter singled home runs, and then Mark Teixeira came up a couple batters later and singled into left field to plate two more.

As the spring has gone on, Teixeira has been playing well enough to make most of the questions surrounding his right wrist go away. Like a lot of others, he is swinging the bat well down here in Tampa, and assuming he can stay healthy, he should have a pretty good season.

After Soriano's homerun in the 4th inning, the Red Sox would end up tallying the only other run of the game in the 7th inning on a Jonathan Herrera single off of David Henderson.

In all, the Yankees collected 14 hits this afternoon -- 13 in the first four innings. This was one of the few times this spring that they played with almost their complete Opening Day lineup, minus Jacoby Ellsbury and Brian McCann.

Out of the bullpen, David Robertson took over for Pineda in the 5th and gave up a single to the first hitter he faced, but came back to strikeout the next two. Shawn Kelley, Fred Lewis and Matt Daley all pitched perfect innings in the 6th, 8th, and 9th.

The Yankees will travel up to Orlando tomorrow to take on the Atlanta Braves. Ivan Nova will start that 1:05pm ET matchup, and Jeter will also be making the trip for his first road game this spring.

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Spring Training Game 10: Yankees at Phillies

Update: They're hoping to get the first pitch in by 2:30pm. I really don't see how this game can be happening. If you've seen the picture on Twitter, the dugout is flooded, and there are lakes in the field. Three other Grapefruit League games have been cancelled today, yet they still feel like getting this game in.

Original: For the time being, the Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies appear ready to play today's game, even with a massive rain storm on the radar. The Yankees just got on the bus and headed off to Clearwater for a game that might not even happen.

Should we reach 1:05pm EST with the game still on, Masahiro Tanaka will take the mound in his second start of the spring.

Tanaka made his spring debut on Saturday, also against the Phillies, and he looked pretty good, striking out three in two scoreless innings. He debuted his legendary splitter, and made Ben Revere look stupid on the pitch.

Yankees catcher Brian McCann backed up al of the hype surrounding Tanaka.

"Before you saw him pitch, you heard what he has and what people say about him," McCann said. "Then you get to catch him and it is as good as advertised. His stuff really is electric. He can command both sides of the plate to both righties and lefties. He can change speeds. He has five or six different pitches. Everything that you read about, the highlights that we saw before he came over here, they are all accurate."

Obviously it's hard to make a lot of what a player down in spring training, but when everyone that has seen him throw has nothing except good things, it's nice to hear.

Today's lineup vs Philadelphia:

Today's lineup vs PHI: Gardner 7, Jeter 6, Teixeira 3, Beltran 9, McCann 2, Soriano DH, Johnson 5, Roberts 4, Williams 8, Tanaka 1.
— Gavin Ewbank (@GavinEwbank) March 6, 2014

The Yankees are bringing pretty much everyone of their regulars to Clearwater with them, with the exception of Mason Williams playing on center field over Jacoby Ellsbury.

Mark Teixeira will be playing first base for the first time this spring, playing in his first game since June of last season. And Alfonso Soriano, who has been dealing with the flu throughout the first week of camp, will also be in the lineup for the first time this spring, serving as the DH.

You can watch today's game on MLB.TV or MLB Network, but it won't be on YES.

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Gavin Ewbank is the Lead Writer of Yanks Beat Blog


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Spring Training notebook, Day 7: Masahiro Tanaka continues to impress

TAMPA, Fla. -- Masahiro Tanaka certainly drew a lot of hype over the winter leading up to his signing with the Yankees, and it will continue to be that way until he pitches in his first major league game this season -- his first start will likely be against the Houston Astros during the opening series of the year.

And even though he's only thrown a handful of time so far this spring, the compliments just continue to roll in.

Tanaka threw his first live batting practice session today, and yep, you guessed it, people had nothing but great things to say about the $155 million 25-year-old.

"As good as advertised," said Brian McCann, who caught Tanaka for the first time. "He’s got a great split. It really falls off the table. His motion’s completely the same as his fastball, and that’s the key to getting swings and misses."

Austin Romine was one of the hitters to face Tanaka today, and he was almost left speechless when he first saw his highly talked about splitter.

"I think he threw a split and I had to turn around and ask what the pitch was," Romine said. "I’ve never seen a ball move like that before. I haven’t had the chance to catch him yet, but from a hitting standpoint, like I said, I’m glad he’s on our team."

"It really falls off the table," McCann said of the pitch. "His motion’s completely the same as his fastball, and that’s the key to getting swings and misses."

Today was the first time that Tanaka had faced live hitters since the final game of last year’s Japanese playoffs. He guessed that he was throwing around 70 percent, and came away happy with the results.

“I felt really good out there,” he said. “It was the first time I had batters in the batter’s box, but I felt really good out there today.”

Tanaka has not yet been told when he will start pitching in spring games, which begin next week, but he says that he'll be ready for whenever his first action might be.

“I don’t think I need that many live BP sessions,” he said. “I’d like to get into games more and try to build my arm strength through games.”

** CC Sabathia said that he went Alabama during the offseason to Dr. James Andrews’ facility in Alabama to have his mechanics analyzed and stored in a database. It was something that he had done 10 years ago with the Cleveland Indians, and wanted to compare between then and now.

"It’s the same as it was 10 years ago," Sabathia said. "… Pretty much, except the rotation in my hips. You get old. You get bad hips when you get old, right?”

After working extremely hard throughout the winter, Sabathia came into camp weighing 40 pounds lighter than he has in the past.

"I threw all offseason, so I’m ahead of where I was last spring, maybe even the spring before, just from all the work I’ve been doing," Sabathia said. "I’m encouraged by the way I feel. My arm angle seems to be good, getting the ball out, my arm just needs to catch up with the rest of my body."

He threw 25 pitches of live batting practice Friday and that he couldn't find the strike zone very often, but feels much better on the pound after dropping weight and having a full year to recover from his elbow surgery last offseason.

“I felt great,” Sabathia said. “My legs felt great, didn’t get tired, so I’m actually excited. I know it wasn’t the prettiest, but it felt good.”

** Yankees manager Joe Girardi will announce on Sunday who he plans to start in the early slate of spring training games that start with Florida State University on Tuesday, followed by games with the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday and Thursday.

The early signs so far, based on who has been throwing lately, point to David Phelps and Vidal Nuno each getting a start next week.

** Girardi has said that Francisco Cervelli, John Ryan Murphy and Romine will battle it out for the backup catchers job behind McCann this season, but he may have also hinted that Cervelli currently has the upper-hand in the competition.

"You’ve got three guys vying for that spot that played for us last year, so obviously there’s some competition there," Girardi said. "You’re looking for the best player, but [Cervelli] has got more experience than all of them and he played very well in the short time that we had him last year."

If you remember, Cervelli won the job last spring, but played in just 17 games in 2013 because of a broken hand that he suffered early in the season, and then a 50-game suspension for his role in the Biogenesis scandal.

Also, the fact that Romine and Murphy have options could come into play. “That’s something that’s always brought up,” Girardi said. “Obviously, we’re in this thing to win it so we got to do what we feel is best.”

** Alfonso Soriano missed his second straight day of workouts for what is being called the flu. Soriano was seen in the weight room earlier in the day, working out a little bit.

"He's a little better today than he was yesterday," Girardi said. "We hope to have him out there tomorrow."

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 Gavin Ewbank is the Lead Writer of Yanks Beat Blog, and you can follow him on Twitter @GavinEwbank.

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Alfonso Soriano contemplating retirement after this season

Alfonso Soriano could become the second Yankee to ride off into the sunset, alongside Derek Jeter, and retire at the end of this season, according to George A. King III of the NY Post.

"It depends how I feel," Soriano told The Post Wednesday. "If I'am healthy I will play [in 2015]. If not, I will let it go. It depends how I fell."

Soriano is entering his 14th season in the league, and will be turing 39 in July.

He's coming off of a pretty good  2013 season, in which he hit 34 homeruns and drove in 101 runs, splitting time between the Yankees and Chicago Cubs. In 93 games with the Cubs, he batted .254 with 17 homeruns and 54 RBIs. 

He continued the same pace after being traded to the Yankees in July, hitting .256 with 17 homeruns and 50 RBIs.

Soriano is expected to be the fourth outfielder on the Yankees roster this season -- behind Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran and Brett Gardner on the depth chart -- while spending most of his time as the DH -- something that he has only done 35 times in his career, having spent most of his time in the National League with the Cubs and Washington Nationals.

"If I am the DH I will have to make adjustments." Soriano said. "When the team is playing defense, I will have to find a way to keep my body warm and ready."

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Gavin Ewbank is the Lead Writer for Yanks Beat Blog, and you can follow him on Twitter (HERE).

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Pettitte Makes Final Home Start On Mo's Special Day

Happy Mariano Rivera Day. Today in the Bronx, the Yankees will be holding a pregame ceremony to honor the great Mariano Rivera as he prepares to enter retire after next Sunday's regular season finale in Houston -- assuming the Yanks don't make the playoffs.

It's sure going to be an emotional day at Yankee Stadium, and in the process of celebrating Mo, the Yankees are also trying to get the sweep of the San Francisco Giants after taking Friday's opener 5-1, and winning on Saturday 6-0 after a dominating complete-game shutout by Ivan Nova -- his second of the season.

With just seven games remaining this season, the Yankees still have a lot of work to do in order the clinch a Wild Card berth, and with the Tampa Bay Rays coming into the Bronx this week for three-games, the Yanks have a great chance to control their own destiny.

"If we play like we played last night and today, we can win all seven games that are left," Alfonso Soriano said. "But we try not to put too much pressure on us; just play one game at a time like we played today, come back tomorrow with the same energy and try to win tomorrow."

Today's Lineup vs San Francisco:

Ichiro RF
Rodriguez DH
Cano 2B
Soriano LF
Granderson CF
Nunez 3B
Reynolds 1B
Ryan SS
Stewart C
Pettitte LHP

Pitching Preview:

This may be Mariano Rivera's day, but it'll be Andy Pettitte's game. Today against the Giants, Pettitte will take the mound for the Yankees two days after announcing that he'll retiring at the end of this season alongside Rivera, making this his final start at Yankee Stadium.

"It's like brothers," Rivera said of him and Pettitte going out together. "We came up with this organization at the same time. We've been through good times and bad times, but at the same time, we have enjoyed what we do. Now we're going out together, too."

Over the past few weeks, Pettitte has been probably the Yankees' best starter. In 12 starts since the All-Star break, he's only won three of those starts, mostly because of run support problems, but he does have an ERA of 3.30 over that span. He hasn't given up more than three runs since August 5th, spanning 8 starts.

Pettitte is coming off a good start against the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday when he gave up just one run on six hits over 6.1 innings, but the Yankees couldn't score any runs to back him up, losing to the Jays, 2-0. Sunday will bring us one game closer to the end of an era, with Pettitte and Rivera leaving Jeter as the last remaining member of the Core Four.

"We've had a great run here," Pettitte said. "Part of me coming back was to try to do this run again with the group of guys that we had here, and it's starting to get toward the end of that. We had a great run here, and my time here is done."

Taking the mound for the Giants in this series finale will be right-hander Yusmeiro Petit, who is 4-0 since being called up on August 23rd. One of those wins came against the Padres when he was one out away from pitching a perfect game.

Petit is going for his fifth win in seven contests with the Giants. His last start was against the New York Mets on Tuesday when he gave up four runs on seven hits and three walks, but was still able to take home the victory.

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A-Rod's Grand Slam Leads Yanks To 5-1 Win Over The Giants

Somewhere off in the distance, you can almost hear Bud Selig smashing his TV with a baseball bat.

Heading towards another poor offensive showing, and a pitching battle that looked like we could be playing all night, Alex Rodriguez blasted his major league record 24th career grand slam in the 7th inning to lead the Yankees to a 5-1 victory over the Giants Friday night in the Bronx.

"You just want to come up in a big spot and get a big hit," said Rodriguez. "Hopefully, that hit gets your offense going."

CC Sabathia wasn't at his best once again, but he battled for the Yankees to give them seven innings of one-run ball, keeping the Yanks in the game long enough for A-Rod to break the 1-1 tie in the 7th.

"We really needed it," manager Joe Girardi said. "Like I've said, I don't know if we can afford to lose any more games. That's the bottom line at this point. I kind of look at every game from here on out as extremely, extremely important."

The Yankees entered the 7th inning against former Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum, who came into the inning have given up just one-run on a solo homerun by Alfonso Soriano in the 2nd inning. Eduardo Nunez singled to open the frame, then after a strikeout by Lyle Overbay, Nunie stole second and Brendan Ryan was hit by a pitch.

JR Murphy hit a groundball the third base that was stopped on a nice play by Pablo Sandoval, by the throw to first was offline, leaving Murphy safe at first. Then Ichiro walked against Lincecum to load the bases, forcing Giants manager Bruce Bochy to bring in George Kontos, who the Yankees traded for Chris Stewart last season.

Lincecum had been pitching pretty well all night against the Yankees, but he just seemed to run out of gas at the end, as he wasn't able to finish off the 7th, getting tagged with four runs on five hits, while walking two and striking out six on 121 pitches over 6.2 innings. Then, of course, A-Rod hit a grand slam off Kontos to put the Bombers up 5-1.

"That's a nice job by Tim, and he just had some tough luck there that last inning," Bochy said.

That set up a scoreless 8th inning by David Robertson, paving the way for the great Mariano Rivera to start off his final homestand with a perfect 1-2-3 9th inning -- non-save situation -- to shutout the Giants and give the Yankees only their second win in the last seven games.

"You don't want to get in a situation where they have a couple guys on and you have to bring [Rivera] in," Girardi said. "This way you have wiggle room. We have an off-day on Monday, so I figure I can use him three days in a row."

In between, Sabathia was on the mound for the Yankees, and although he pitched at the level that would have warranted more than just one run against any other team -- like the Red Sox, who hit CC hard last Saturday -- he still managed to fight through seven innings, giving up one run on seven hits, while walking three and striking out four on 107 pitches.

"I was kind of erratic a little bit with the control, but we were able to make pitches and keep them off the board for the most part," Sabathia said.

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Yankees Show They Still Have Some Fight Left In Them

Just when you though the Yankees might be done for this season, they got back up, chugged down some Gatorade, and sparked their bats back to life to make a four-run comeback in the 8th inning against the Blue Jays Wednesday night in Toronto.

Coming into the night, the talk around the Yankees was that they weren't playing with enough engery. Alfonso Soriano said that after an off-day on Monday, the Yanks weren't at their best on Tuesday when they lost to the Jays 2-0 because they were still a little sluggish after having nothing to do on Monday.

Tuesday night's game gave us the impression tat the Yankees didn't have much left in the tank, and that even the fact of being just a couple games back of the Wild Card spot wasn't enough to will this beat down team to the playoffs.

They entered the 8th inning Wednesday night trailing the Blue Jays 3-0. They hadn't scored a run in their first 16 innings in Toronto, and they were just six outs away from suffering another devastating loss at the hands of the last place Jays.

Having already wasted several scoring chances early in the game, including having runners on the corners with one-out in the first, Brendan Ryan opened the 8th with a ground-rule double off Jays starter JA Happ, who was enter the 8th inning for the first time as a starter since April of 2010. After Curtis Granderson singled to put runners on the corners, hope was coming back once again.

Robinson Cano single to center to score Ryan and put the Yankees on the board for the first time since Sunday in Boston, then Soriano doubled to right field to pull the Yanks within a run.

The, seemingly out of nowhere, Vernon Wells, a man that many Yankees fas wouldn't want up at the plate in that situation, ripped a double down the left field line to score a pair of runs to give the Yanks a 4-3 lead.

Just like that, the Yankees went from scoreless and lifeless, to winning, alive and full on energy.

But, of course, this contest wouldn't be complete without some last inning antics out of the bullpen. David Robertson recorded the first two outs of the 8th, but after a single and stolen base to Brett Lawrie, Yankees skipper Joe Girardi couldn't trust Robertson, giving the ball to Mariano Rivera for a four-out save.

Rivera retired his man in the 8th, couldn't end the 9th without at least making things interesting. He put the first two men on, and then after both runners eventually moved to second and third with two away, Rivera struck out JP Arencibia to end the game, snapping the Bombers four-game losing skid.

"It's fun just to do that," Wells said. "We needed a win. Things had been ugly over the last few days. Guys are still battling. It's obviously frustrating going through periods like that, but hopefully, this is something that can kick-start something special for us."

A kick-start to a winning streak is something that the Yankees desperately need at this point. Andy Pettitte was saying before the game that all the Yankees need to do it go on a little bit of a run in these final 10 games and should be alright.

After the Rays pulled off an extra-innings victory against the Rangers Wednesday night in Tampa, it helped pull the Yankees back to within 2.5 games of a Wild Card spot. I haven't, and I still won't say they will make the playoffs, but at least I know they won't go down without a fight -- kind of like I thought they would have Wednesday night.

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Four-Run 8th Energizes Yanks' Come From Behind Win Over The Jays

There's been a lot of talk around the Yankees lately about their lack of energy on the field.

Entering the 8th inning on a 16 inning scoreless streak, the Yankees' offense was hit by a bolt of lightning in what amounted to a four-run 8th inning that brought the Yanks back from a 3-0 hole to give them a 4-3 win over the Blue Jays Wednesday night in Toronto.

"This team never quits," said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. "We have a pretty mature group. They know what they have to do."

What was on the way to being another bad loss for the Yankees, a two-run double by Vernon Wells in the in the 8th inning gave the Bombers a lead they haven't seen in a long time.

Trailing 3-0 to open the 8th against J.A. Happ, who was entering the 8th inning as a starter for the first time since 2010, Brendan Ryan doubled to start the rally, then after a pitching change, Curtis Granderson singled to set up runners on the corners with nobody out.

Alex Rodriguez promptly struck out for the first out of the inning, then Robinson Cano singled past an outstretched glove at second base to put the Yanks on the board, 1-0 -- their first run in 16 innings in Toronto.

Alfonso Soriano followed Cano with a double to right field to score Granderson, pulling the Yankees within a run, moving Cano to third. That set up the chance for Wells to rip a double down the left field line to plate two runs and give the Yanks the lead.

Leading up to the 8th inning comeback, the Yankees had Phil Hughes on the mound, as well as David Huff, and the offense wasted several scoring chances early in the game against Happ -- including the first inning when they stranded runners on the corners.

Unlike most nights, Hughes wasn't even that bad on the mound, although his lease was extremely short in this outing. After three shutout innings, Hughes served up a two-run homerun to Colby Rasmus with one out in the 4th inning to give the Blue Jays a 2-0 lead.

Girardi was quickly out of the bullpen the take Hughes out of the game after giving up two runs on four hits over 3.1 innings. He brought in David Huff, and after retiring the first batter he faced, Ryan Goins took Huff deep for his first career homerun to extend the Jays' lead to 3-0.

"This time of the year, you can't really complain too much," Hughes said. "I know the situation I'm in and I'm trying to embrace it as much as I can."

In 3.2 inning, the homerun to Goins was the only run that Huff gave up, as well as the only hit, while not walking anyone and striking out three on 47 pitches in his near four innings of work.

With the newly given lead, Girardi called upon David Robertson to pitch the 8th inning, but after giving up a two-out single by Brett Lawrie, who would steal second base a couple pitches later, Girardi showed his lack of trust in Robertson by bringing in Mariano Rivera for the four-out save.

Things got really interesting in the 9th inning, though. Mariano let the first two hitters reach base, then a force out at first created the first out of the inning. After a groundout moved runners to second and third with two away, Rivera struck out J.P. Arencibia to end the game, snapping the Yanks' four-game losing skid.

"It looked like things were going in the same direction as they did [Tuesday]," said Wells, "That's what we are capable of doing. We needed a win, things have been ugly over the last few days.

"Hopefully this is something that can kick-start something special for us."

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Yanks And CC Dominated By Lester And The Red Sox

Believe it or not, there was once a time when New York Yankees fans couldn't wait for CC Sabathia's next start. Nowadays, they just can't wait for it to be over with.

Having a season with very little to cheer about, Sabathia entered Saturday's start against the Boston Red Sox with a 7.15 ERA against them this season.

After starting his day with a promising seven-pitch 1st inning, things went downhill from there as Boston tagged him for five runs in six innings, as the they went on to beat the Yankees, 5-1, Saturday at Fenway Park.

"It's very frustrating, because everybody keeps telling me I'm close, but I don't see it," Sabathia said. "I want results and I know the team wants results. I know the fans want results. It's just tough not being able to deliver."

Boston jumped on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second when Mike Napoli opened the inning with a groundball that third baseman Mark Reynolds sent flying into the Red Sox dugout, putting him on second base. After a walk to Johnny Gomes, a sac-bunt by Daniel Nava moved the runners over, setting up an RBI groundout by Will Middlebrooks.

Things only got worse from CC from there, as he gave up all five of his runs in the 2nd through 5th innings. A David Ortiz double scored a pair of runs in the 3rd, and a Gomes single a couple batters later put the Sox up 3-0.

The Yankees only run of the game came in the 4th inning against Red Sox starter Jon Lester, who was perfect through the first three innings until Curtis Granderson tripled to deep center to open the inning, then came around to score a couple batters later on a groundout by Robinson Cano.

Lester was great for the Red Sox, going eight innings against the Yankees for the second consecutive outing, and it was the third time in his last six starts that he has gone at least eight innings. Lester held the Bombers to just one run on three hits, while walking two and striking out five over 115 pitches.

"Our game plan going into today was going out there and, 'Here it comes,'" Lester said. "You're either going to get me or I'm going to get you. We were able to get some quick outs early on and get on a little bit of a roll from there. You look up and you're in the eighth."

Before finally tossing another scoreless inning in the 6th, CC gave up another pair of runs, one coming on a single by Shane Victorino in the 4th, and then a sac-fly by Nava in the 5th.

Sabathia handed the ball off to Joba Chamberlain to start the 7th. CC, as already mentioned, wasn't very good once against, giving up nine hits for the 7th time this season, while walking four and striking out five on 110 pitches, raising his season-ERA to 4.90 in the process.

"I felt like I was behind everybody and got in some tough counts," Sabathia said. "With a team like they have, when you get behind in some hitters' counts, you're going to give up some hard-hit balls."

"He's had some issues where the ball has cut on him, and that's usually what it is," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "He just doesn't locate it. I think his stuff is plenty good enough to control lineups."

Chamberlain tossed 17 pitches while walking two in a scoreless 7th inning, and Matt Daley struck out two batters on 13 pitching in a scoreless 8th inning of his own.

Cano, Alex Rodriguez and Vernon Wells went down in order in the 9th against the Franklin Morales to hand the Yankees their second straight loss, and 5th in their last six games against the Red Sox.

"It's tough when you don't have your stuff against these guys, but you just try to go out and battle and do what I could," Sabathia said. "It wasn't good enough. It hasn't been good enough all year. I've got a few more starts left. Hopefully I can be a lot better."

Alfonso Soriano did not play in this game. He was a late scratch from the lineup because of a sprained right thumb. Click here for the full news story.

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Soriano A Late Scratch In The Yanks Lineup

About 10 minutes before the Yankees and Red Sox began play on Saturday, the Yanks announced that Alfonso Soriano, originally penciled in as the No. 4 hitter and playing left field, was scratched from the lineup because of a sprained right thumb.

Soriano hurt his thumb while diving for a ball in Baltimore this past week, and it's been bothering him ever since. He had been able to play through it, but decided not to give it a go after going through batting practice this morning.

Since coming over to the Yankees in late-July, he's been arguably their best hitter, as he has more homeruns (15) and RBIs (47) than any other major league hitter over that span.

In the new lineup, Vernon Wells was moved from right to left field, while Girardi added Ichiro to the lineup as the Bombers face LHP Jon Lester.

With Brett Gardner going on the DL for possibly the remainder of the season a couple of days ago in Baltimore  just a couple of days after Derek Jeter went back on the DL -- the possibility of losing Alfonso Soriano for the rest of the season could easily end any hopes that Yankees had of making the playoffs.

While Soriano overall batting average this season is just .253, he's been having a great season, not just with the Yankees, but also combined with the Chicago Cubs, hitting 32 homeruns with 98 RBIs.

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Grand Slam In The 7th Blasts Red Sox Past The Yankees

Sometimes, baseball can be a cruel game.

On a Friday night on Boston -- Friday the 13th, that is -- the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox opened up their final series of the season at Fenway Park, and it was a game that lived up to everything that  Yankees and Red Sox series is suppose to be.

Boston took a 4-0 lead in the 1st inning off Yankees starter Hiroki Kuroda, but as you might already know, no lead is safe when it comes to these two teams.

Kuroda settled into end up pitching six-plus innings without giving up another run outside of the 1st, permitting four runs on eight hits, while mixing in a pair a strike outs on 101 pitches.

As the game rolled on a homerun by Brendan Ryan, sac-fly by Lyle Overbay, and a two-run double by Robinson Cano in the top of the 7th brought the Yankees all the way back to tie the game.

But in the end, the Yankees' bullpen couldn't keep them in the game, giving up four-runs in the 7th inning to pave the way for the Red Sox to take the first game of the series, 8-4.

What it means: For starters, the bullpen failed to do it's job once again. With a win by the Tampa Bay Rays tonight, the Yankees will fall back to two-games behind Tamp for the second Wild Card spot. As well as the Yanks have been playing lately, they just can't catch a break when it comes to playing the Red So, who appear to be possibly the best team in the American League.

Salty grand salami: Boston loaded the bases to start the home half of the 7th inning, and with Preston Claiborne in the mound -- normally good, but not so much of late -- and the four-run lead the Red Sox had early in the game came right back to them when Jarrod Saltalamacchia blasted a grand slam beyond the bullpens in right field to put the Sox up 8-4.

No so good start: With the bullpen as fatigued as it is, Yankees manager Joe Girardi needed Kuroda to put the team on his back, while keeping the bullpen out of the game. Unfortunately for Girardi, Kuroda took the mound in the first inning and started off the game in no way the Yankees or Kuroda was hoping for.

Kuroda took the mound in the bottom of the first and didn't get out of the inning until after the Red Sox had already tagged him for four-runs on four-hits and a walk over 33 pitches -- signalling the bullpen might get a lot of work done.

Dustin Pedroia singled to start the inning, then David Ortiz double to left field a couple batters later. Mike Carp followed with a groundout to score Pedroia, and then single by Daniel Nava scored Ortiz. Kuroda walked Saltalamacchia and then served up a double to Stephen Drew to put the Sox up 4-0.

Settling in: Somehow, Kuroda managed to turn things around after the first inning, pitching a complete 180 on the mound, keeping the Red Sox off the board in the next five innings. He went on to give up just three hits after the 1st inning, while also retiring the Red Sox in order in the 4th and 6th innings.

Bunt double: With one-out in the first inning, the Red Sox put on a shift for Robinson Cano at the plate. Cano dropped down a bunt, and as it rolled towards nobody at third base, Cano put together some heads up basing running and trotted into second with a bunt double.

Ryan's Hope: Ryan, playing in just this third game with the Yankees, hit a solo homerun off John Lackey in the top of the 3rd inning to put the Yanks on the board, 4-1. It was his 1st homerun of the Bombers, and only his 4th this season between the Seattle Mariners and Yanks -- a new career high.

How'd he catch that? The Yankees set up with runners on the corners and only one away in the 6th inning against Lackey after Cano doubled and Alfonso Soriano singled. Overbay came up and shot a ball into the right-center field gap that Shane Victorino, somehow, chased down to make the catch for the second out, all while Cano tagged and scored from third to cut Boston's lead to 4-2.

Adding the zero's: Cano was fantastic in this game. He was quite the stud on defense, making a couple nice plays, including a running, over-the-shoulder catch in shallow right field to end the 6th inning. At the plate, he was as good as advertised, collecting four hits, three of which were doubles, one of which was the bunt double, including the two-run double to tie the game in the 7th.

Up next: These two teams continue this important series tomorrow for a Saturday matinee on FOX, as a pair of lefties, CC Sabathia (13-12, 4.82 ERA) and Jon Lester (13-8, 3.86 ERA) square off in the second game of the three-game set. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05pm EST.

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Yanks Come Back In The 8th To Beat The O's 7-5

Through the first seven innings, it looked like the New York Yankees were going to waste another decent effort by their starting pitcher, and fall to the Baltimore Orioles to lose for the 5th time in their last six games.

But entering the 8th inning down 4-3, the Yankees put together a big four-run inning, batting around in the inning to come back and take the lead, going on the defeat the Orioles 7-5, Tuesday night at Camden Yards.

"I've said all along, there's no quit in this team and there's a lot of character in that room," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "They've fought all year long and they continue to fight."

The inning started with a double down the line field line by Alex Rodriguez, who would come around to score on a single up the middle by Robinson Cano to tie game. After a close play at the plate, A-Rod would leave the game, and we're still waiting on word of why he left.

Following Cano, Alfonso Soriano blasted his second homerun of the game deep the right-center field to give the Yankees a 6-4 lead. His second homerun gave Soriano his 7th multi-homerun game this season -- no other player has more than four. Mark Reynolds tack on another run with an RBI double of his own.

"The difference is I'm having fun right now," said Soriano. "I'm playing for a team to be a contender in the playoffs, so every game counts."

The game had the same type of face-paced feel to it that it had in Monday night's game. It also followed along with the same type of scoring pace. The Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the 3rd inning on a double into the left-center field gap by A-Rod, scoring Chris Stewart all the one from first base.

Then just like Monday, the Orioles attacked in the 5th inning, putting up three-runs against Yankees starter Ivan Nova, who was coming off a complete-game shutout the last time he faced Baltimore, so he was picking up right where he left off, tossing four scoreless innings to start the game.

Nova was taken out of the game after six innings and 79 pitches, because of tightness in his right triceps. He had been pitching pretty well all night if you exclude the 5th inning. He had only given up four-runs on six hits, while walking two and striking out two.

"He had this thing that he's dealt with for awhile now," Girardi said. "It hasn't kept him from making a start. Sometimes it tightens up a little bit. He said it tightened up a little bit, so I took him out."

"You never want to tell your manager, because they can push you back or skip you, whatever," Nova said. "You just want to keep pitching."

Eduardo Nunez was a key player for the Orioles in the 5th, as his throwing error off the first base bag lead to a run scoring, setting up runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out. After a sac-fly by Nick Markakis gave the O's a 2-1 lead, Chris Davis crushed his major league leading 49th homerun of the season, a two-run blast to give Baltimore a 4-1 lead.

The Yankees started to pull themselves back into the game in the 6th inning when Soriano and Reynolds each launched solo homeruns to right field off Miguel Gonzalez to pull the Yanks within a run at 4-3. Soriano's was his 14th with the Bombers, and Reynolds' homerun still hasn't landed yet, I don't think.

"I've had Alfonso. He's been a good Major League player for a long time," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "He certainly doesn't get cheated. He's been a good player for a long time. It's a good pickup for them."

After Adam Warren took care of business in the 7th, Shawn Kelley recorded the first two outs of the 8th before Joe Girardi decided to go to Mariano River for the four-out save, and unlike his last two outings, Mariano got the job done, setting the O's down in the 8th and 9th to seal the Yanks win.

Austin Romine replaced Chris Stewart behind the plate in the 7th inning, but was forced to leave the game after taking a foul-tip off his facemask. He originally stayed n the game, but left a couple pitches later. He presumably left because of concussion like symptoms.

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Boston's Offense Once Again Blasts Them Past The Yanks

If there's anything that we've learned from the first two games of this series, it's that no lead is safe. The New York Yankees came back from six-runs down on Thursday, and the Boston Red Sox came back from a five-run hole on Friday.

Saturday afternoon in the Bronx, the Red Sox jumped out to a commanding 12-9 lead after David Huff and the bullpen endured one of it's roughest days, but trying to overcome the seven-run deficit, the Yankees put together a rally in the late innings that made the game interesting once again, but it wouldn't be enough as the Yanks fell to Boston, 13-9.

"No lead seems to be big enough," Boston manager John Farrell said. "It's a testament to the offensive capability of both clubs and the relentlessness at the plate."

Entering the 6th inning down 12-3, the Yankees put a rally together to put them back into the game for the most part, scoring two runs on a double by Brett Gardner, then coming around to score on a single by Derek Jeter. Alfonso Soriano added a fourth run a few batters later on a single to left field, making it a 12-5.

Then things got even more interesting the in the 8th when they Bombers tacked on two more runs to pull them within three. Mark Reynolds, who entered the game in the 6th as a pinch-runner for Jeter, doubled into the left field corner, plating a pair of runs.

Yet, no matter what the Yankees did on offense, the Red Sox out-hit the them. Boston's bats where explosive once again, scoring run after run off Huff, Jim Miller and Brett Marshall.

Huff's day was over before you knew it. He was nothing like he was on the bullpen for the Yanks this season, giving up up nine runs on eight hits in 3.1 inning. He struck out the first two batters of the game, then it all went downhill from there.

"I started out aggressive in the first inning," Huff said. "As soon as the [Napoli] home run happened, I started getting too fine with my pitches and started nibbling a little bit."

"You can't afford to not be firing on all cylinders or they'll take advantage," Said Yankees general manager Brian Cashman. "And they've been taking advantage on every extra inch you give. Despite that, our guys keep fighting."

Miller, who was called up by the Yankees this morning, entered in the 4th, but he, too, proved ineffective against the Red Sox, giving up three runs on three hits in 1.1 innings. Marshall was easily to better of the three Yankee pitchers, permitting just one-run in 4.1 innings.

"Right now, they're not missing pitches," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "We talked about when they came in that they're swinging the bats extremely well, and they're continuing to do that."

For Boston, a lot of the damage came from Mike Napoli, who went deep twice, driving in three runs on the day. Johnny Gomes also came up big for the Sox, also going yard, driving in four runs. Xander Bogaerts smashed his first career homerun in the 4th, and he helped factor in the final score, driving in three runs, too.

"We have to turn it around," Girardi said. "The bottom line is we have to pitch better, because we are scoring some runs. We have to figure out how to get them out."

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Yanks Rally In The 8th To Beat White Sox 6-4

At a time in the season where every game matters, the come from behind win against the Chicago White Sox is a big win for the New York Yankees.

While Kuroda was the story for the Yankees once again through the first seven innings, the Yankees offense rewrote all the headlines in the 8th when they put together a five-run inning to come all the way back to defeat the White Sox, 6-4.

"It was a great comeback," Nunez said. "We all fought together."

With Chris Sale still in the game to start the 8th, he struck out Brett Gardner, then gave up a single and a two-strike double to Robinson Cano, setting up runners on the 2nd and 3rd with one away. Sale was then removed from the game, then Alfonso Soriano singled to score two runs, pulling the Yankees back to within a run, making it a 4-3 game.

"Sale has been extremely tough on us," manager Joe Girardi said. "He was tough on us there, but Robbie gets that big double that gets him out of the game, and then guys just put great at-bats on the relievers. That's a huge win."

After Alex Rodriguez singled, moving Soriano to third base, Curtis Granderson, pinch-hitting for Vernon Wells, singled to center field to score A-Rod and tie up the ballgame. Mark Reynolds struck out for the second out of the inning, then Eduardo Nunez earned his pinstriped by lining a two-run double into the left field corner, giving up the Yankees a 6-4 lead.

The five-run 8th inning go Kuroda off the hook, who gave up four-runs in 6 1/3 innings. The White Sox jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead off Kuroda in the 1st inning on an RBI single by Adam Dunn. Nunez was a big part of the inning after letting a double play ball knocked off his glove.

Kuroda escaped with the bases loaded in the 1st, letting only one run score in an inning that could have been much worse. From there, he began to settle down a little, but lost it again in the 5th when a two-run triple to Alexei Ramirez gave the Sox a 3-1 lead.

Alejandro De Aza extended Chicago's lead with a solo homerun off Kuroda in the 7th, ending his night after 6 1/2, permitting four runs on seven hits, while walking two and striking out seven on 95 pitches.

"I thought his stuff was better tonight," Girardi said. "The top of the order has been tough on him, and they were tough on him again tonight. But I thought his stuff was better, and that's a good sign for me."

True story, the Yankees first run of the game came in the second inning, when , with Wells on third and Nunez on first, Nunez took off towards second, with Wells breaking towards home and reaching safely to score, stealing home in the process.

Mariano Rivera entered the game in the 9th, and he shut down the White Sox in order, striking out Leury Garcia to end the game for his 40th save of the season -- the 9th time in his career that he's recorded at least 40 saves.

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Yanks Beat White Sox By Blowout, 9-1, After Rain Delay

Coming off a tough loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday, the questions surrounding the New York Yankees was whether they would be able to rebound from the loss. They answered all of those questions on Monday, putting up eight runs in the 4th to down the Chicago White Sox, 9-1.

"This time of year, you want to get some games like this," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "You can not use some guys in the bullpen, get some guys out a little early and maybe give them a little bit of rest. You just want to keep tacking on runs, and that's what they did in that big inning."

After a near two-hour rain delay knocked starter Phil Hughes out of the with one out in the 2nd, David Huff stepped in and helped lead the Yankees to victory, holding the White Sox fairly quiet through the 7th inning.

Prior the the rain delay, the Yankees jumped on the board to take a 1-0 lead in the 1st inning, following a double by Brett Gardner to open the inning -- the third straight game in which Gardner doubled in his first at-bat -- then Derek Jeter singled up the middle to drive in Gardner.

With a runner in first base and one-out in the second inning, Hughes had put Avisail Garcia into a 0-2 count before the rain started pouring down on Yankee Stadium, leading homeplate umpire Mike Everitt to call for the tarps to come out.

Following a rain delay of one hour and fifty-three minutes, Huff took over on the mound for the Yankees, and he only raised the question even more whether the Yankees should swap out Huff and Hughes, moving Huff into the Yankees' rotation.

He went 5 2/3 innings, giving up just one-run on five hits -- the only run was a solo homerun to Paul Konerko -- and he didn't walk a batter, while also striking out three on 62 pitches (48 strikes).

"Attacking them," Huff said. "Attacking them with fastballs and changeups, throwing a lot of strikes and just trying to get that first-pitch strike and get them in a hole."

"He did a really nice job," Girardi said. "He's pitched well for us. Those were big innings for us where we didn't have to use like four or five guys in the bullpen, and that helps."

Then entering the 4th inning, still leading 1-0, the Yankees exploded for eight-runs in an inning that felt like it lasted longer then the rain delay. The inning started when Alex Rodriguez doubled, then Vernon Wells on an infield single to short. Curtis Granderson walked to load the bases, then another infield single scored A-Rod.

Austin Romine followed with a two-run single to make it a 4-0 game, the Gardner's second double of the day scored Reynolds to make it 5-0. Derek Jeter made it 6-0 on an infield single off the pitcher, then Robinson Cano popped out for the first out of the inning.

Alfonso Soriano then doubled home his 37th RBI while with the Yankees, then a batter later, Wells drove in two more runs on a double play groundball to the first baseman that was thrown into left field. In all, the Yankees sent 13 batters to the plate in their biggest inning of the season.

"It was just one of those innings, and you don't see it happen too often. It's very difficult to do," said Jeter. "We were fortunate that we got some bounces that went our way, but for the most part, we had some good at-bats up and down the lineup."

Cesar Cabral made his major league debut in the top of the 8th inning, striking out the first batter he faced on three pitches. He ended up striking out another batter, while also permitting one base hit.

JR Murphy also made his major league debut in the 8th inning, pinch-hitting for Cano in the bottom half of the inning. He ripped a groundball down the third base side, beating it out for an infield singled for his first big league hit. Murphy was the 52nd player used by the Yanks this season -- a franchise record.

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Yanks Launch Four Home Runs, Beat Blue Jays 7-1

Let me start this recap off by saying this: three major events happened in this game -- two were good for the New York Yankees, and one was almost season altering.

Even after Robinson Cano was forced to leave the game in the first inning after taking fastball from J.A. Happ off his left hand, the Yankees still went on to blowout the Toronto Blue Jays 7-1, Tuesday night at the Rogers Center.

After Brett Gardner lead off the game with a double to right field, he advanced to third on a wild pitch, then scored on an RBI single by Derek Jeter , who was playing in his second game since coming off the DL.

Immediately after, Cano was hit by a 2-2 fastball from Happ -- the same pitcher that fractured Curtis Granderson's forearm in Spring Training -- and after a lengthy discussion, he stayed in the game, but packed his things and left after Alfonso Soriano jacked a three-runs homerun of Happ, making a 4-0 game in the 1st.

The Yankees originally announced that Cano had been taken to the hospital with a left hand contusion, then finally gave up the x-ray results, saying that everything came back negative, and Cano is listed as day to day.

"I was [scared] right away -- I was hurt," Cano said. "I was pretty concerned. [First-base coach] Mick [Kelleher] asked me at first base if I thought it was broken; it was close to the bone. Maybe it missed the bone by an inch. Thank God it was nothing worse."

Later in the third, Soriano was back at it again, blasting a solo homerun to left field off Happ -- his second homerun of the game, and the 400th of his career -- extending the Yankees' lead to 5-0.

"It's good," Soriano said. "When I retire, I can think about what I did in the game. I'm very proud. The talent that I've got, God gave it to me. I never think I'm going to hit 400 homers in the big leagues with my size, but I think I work hard and try to get better every day. That's what I've got."

Then Mark Reynolds and Alex Rodriguez decided to join in and continue the right-handed homerun trend, with each launching solo homeruns off Esmil Rogers, putting the Yanks up 7-0. A-Rod's bomb his 4th this season and No. 651 for his career.

The Yankees put seven runs on the board in support of Andy Pettitte, who was making his second straight start against the Blue Jays. Pettitte was at his best from the start, setting down the first six batters he faced before giving up a leadoff single to open the 3rd inning.

Pettitte tossed seven scoreless inning, permitting just five hits, while walking two and striking out three on 86 pitches. This outing was easily his best in quite some time. Obviously the Jays are not a very good baseball team, but Pettitte did a great job dominating, picking up his 10th win of the season.

"He was really good," manager Joe Girardi said. "He went through the lineup with not too many pitches the first time. He got some big outs when he had to. I thought he was sharp."

Adam Warren finished up the game, giving up one run on five hits in two inning, closing out the 9th inning to seal up the Yanks 7-1 victory. The win is their 13th against the Jays this season.

"We need these wins like oxygen," Rodriguez said. "One thing this team is going to do is leave it all out there for the next 30, 31 days; maximum effort."

As if the Yankees hadn't gone through enough with the Cano situation, they suffered another scare in the 8th inning when Eduardo Nunez when down going after a ground ball up the middle. His cleat appeared to get stuck on the Astro Turf, as he went down twisting his ankle.

After testing out the ankle for a few minutes, Nunez decided that he was good enough to stay in the game. He came up to bat in the 9th and lead-off with a single to center field. Eventually, Girardi decided to lift him from the game, replacing him with pinch-runner Lyle Overbay.

"It was a good win for us," Pettitte said. "We needed it after last night, that's for sure. We played great defense, and the guys scored some runs. It really let me settle in."

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Ichiro Get's No. 4,000, Yanks Win On Soriano's Late Homerun

Prior to tonight, only two players in baseball history had collected 4,000 career hits. Ichiro Suzuki is now the third player to reach that feat.

Ichiro came into the game with 3,999 hits, and lined a single to left field in his first at-bat of the game, in classic Ichiro style, shooting the ball to left field past a diving Brett Lawrie at third base.

In a surreal moment, the entire New York Yankees dugout flooded out onto the field to congratulate Ichiro on his accomplishment. The hit also moved him past a man named Lou Gehrig on the all-time hits list.

"It was supposed to be a number that was special to me, but what happened tonight, I wasn't expecting," said Ichiro.

"When my teammates came out to first base, that was very special. The fans, I wasn't expecting so much joy and happiness from them. That's what made it very special tonight; not just the number, but all the things that came with it were very special."

To the game, Adam Warren got the start for the Yankees, making just the second start of his Major League career. His stuff looked good early, but putting away the final out of the inning seemed to be an issue.

Warren gave up the first run of the game in the top of the second inning on an RBI single to right field by Anthony Gose. Ichiro came up firing from right, but the throw one-hopped over the glove of Austin Romine at the plate, taking away any play at the plate.

Romine would come back to tie the game in the bottom half of the inning, missing a three-run homerun by a matter of feet, but with the ball caught at the wall, Eduardo Nunez tagged and scored from third base.

Curtis Granderson put the Yankees in the lead in the 4th inning on an RBI single to right field after Robinson Cano doubled, scoring from second on the base hit.

Josh Thole lead off the 4th inning with a homerun off Warren, who was taken out a couple pitches later after only 61 pitches. Warren was on a 75-pitch limit coming into the game, and throwing a lot of pitches early in the game forced Yankees manager Joe Girardi to pull him after 3 plus innings.

"The biggest thing was just try to go as long as I could," Warren said. "I really wasn't sure how long I could go, but I just tried to go as long as I could and give the team a chance to win."

David Huff took over from there, and from there, he literally took over the game. Huff gave the Yankees five very solid innings, giving up only  one hit, while walking four and striking out two on 70 pitches.

"We've had to use our bullpen a lot, so it was really important for our guys," Girardi said. "Three or four guys got a night off, which was important moving forward. Just an outstanding performance by Huff."

With the game tied 2-2 in the bottom of the 8th inning, Cano ripped a two-out single into right field, then Alfonso Soriano, who was 0-for-17 coming into the at-bat, launched a go-ahead, two-run homerun off R.A. Dickey to give the Yanks a 4-2 lead.

"I said, 'This is the chance now to do something impressive,'" said Soriano. "Every game is very important for us. I just wanted to see a good one and make a good swing, and that's what happened. He threw me a good one and I made a good swing."

Mariano Rivera entered the game in the 9th inning, and after giving up a one-out double to Rajai Davis, Rivera picked off Davis at second base for the second out of the 9th, then struck out Edwin Encarnacion looking to end the ballgame.

Huff picked up the win, Mariano took home the save, and overall, the Yankees have won four in a row, and 10 of the last 14 games, as well as 12 straight against the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium.

"It's great. It's a long season," Soriano said. "Sometimes we have a bad week or two weeks, but we come back from that. I think the lineup we have now is very strong, and I hope the offense keeps producing like we're producing right now."

In the second inning, Jayson Nix took a knuckleball from Dickey off his left hand. He would leave the game immediately after, and x-rays would show that he suffered a fracture on that left hand. You can click here for the full story.

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Alfonso Soriano Named AL Player Of The Week

New York Yankees outfielder Alfonso Soriano has been named the American player of the week after he hit .484 (15-for-31) with 5 homeruns, 18 RBIs and 9 runs scored over the past seven days.

Soriano begin his historic run last Tuesday against the Los Angeles Angels, going 3-for-6 with a pair of homeruns and six RBIs. He followed up the next day by going 3-for-3 at the plate, with two more homeruns and another seven RBIs.

Although he only drive home one run on Thursday, Soriano still went 4-for-5 with a run scored in the Yankees 8-4 loss to the Angels. He opened up this past weekend's series against the Boston Red Sox by collecting three more hits, including a three-run homerun, picking up four more RBIs.

Soriano finished Saturday's ballgame, in which the Yankees lost 6-1, going 2-for-4, as well as raising his batting average to .329. But he couldn't finish off the week on a good note, dropping his average back down to .306 after an 0-for-6 effort Sunday night.

Soriano's 18 RBIs over a five-game span last week put him into the history books, tying the great Mickey Mantle for the most RBIs all-time over the span of five-games.

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Sloppy Play Dooms Yanks in 6-1 Loss To The Red Sox

Coming off Friday night's big 10-3 win in the series opener against the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees sent out their ace, Hiroki Kuroda, to the mound in hopes he could continue dominance on the mound against Boston.

Unfortunately for Kuroda and the Yankees, it would not be their day, as a poor offensive showing from the top of the lineup, coupled with sloppy play in the field, Kuroda came home with his 8th defeat of the season in the Yankees 6-1 loss Saturday afternoon at Fenway Park.

"We can't dig ourselves in a hole for no reason," said Yankees first baseman Lyle Overbay. "This is playoff atmosphere. This is how we've got to play. We've got to be sound, and those are things that we can't have."

Things were running smoothly for Kuroda through the first three inning, as he and Red Sox starter John Lackey were matching each other pitch for pitch through three innings, with both pitchers giving up just a couple runs apiece.

But when the Red Sox finally jumped on the scoreboard, it was because of a play to would prove to haunt the Yankees.

Boston had runners on the corners with one away when Stephen Drew hit a groundball to Overbay, who would send the throw high to second, pulling Eduardo Nunez away from the bag, and Nunez's throw would arrive late to first, scoring David Ortiz from third on the play with every reaching safely.

The play that could have ended to inning, turned into a run, and more, for the Red Sox.

"I just didn't finish the throw. It's frustrating, because I feel like if I get a good grip on the ball, I can throw the ball," Overbay said. "I just didn't finish the throw. It ended up costing us."

A couple pitches later, Mike Carp, who was on second base, and Drew took off for a double steal, with Alex Rodriguez being late to cover the third base bag, again, all the runners were safe, setting up a second and third situation with still only one out.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia would strike out swinging, then Will Middlebrooks sent a groundball up the middle that was stopped by Robinson Cano, but with no play to make, everybody was safe and the second run of the inning would score.

Then immediately that, Jacoby Ellsbury came up with runners on the corners and he lined a single into right field, scoring Drew from third base, to put the Red Sox up 3-0.

"That fourth inning, I wish I could take that back," Kuroda said. "I feel bad about it. ... With the runners on, I wanted to minimize the damage. But I couldn't do that."

Kuroda was knocked out of the game in the bottom of the 6th inning after dishing out a one-out single off the Monster to Saltalamacchia, driving home Daniel Nava from third. Following a strikeout by Middlebrooks, Ellsbury drove an RBI double to right field, making it a 5-1 game, ending Kuroda's day.

Kuroda left with two outs in the 6th, having given up five runs, only three earned, tying a season-high with five runs allowed, and Kuroda also gave up a season-high 11 hits on the day. He clearly wasn't at his best, and the long 4th inning did a lot of damage to him.

"I still think he still made good pitches and he could have got out of the inning," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "I think that inning took a toll on him as the game went on, and he ended up having to throw extra pitches. In a game like that, that's a big deal. It changes the complexion of the game."

Adam Warren took over for Kuroda in the 6th, and gave up solo homerun to David Ortiz in the bottom of the 7th, and ran into a mess of trouble in the 8th, loading the base with two-outs, before Girardi replaced him with Boone Logan, who retired the only batter he faced.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Yankees showed nothing of the 10-run offense that was put on display the night before. The only run to score was Lyle Overbay, who would touch home on a groundout to the second baseman by Ichiro.

The Yankees top three hitters in the lineup -- Brett Gardner, Ichiro, Cano and Vernon Wells -- combined to go 1-for-12 with 11 groundball outs, doing absolutely nothing to help the Yankees put runs on the board.

Alfonso Soriano and Over were the only Yankees hitters that were able to do anything with the bat, as Soriano would finish the game 2-for-4, raising his batting average to .329, and he's 15 his last 21 at-bats, and Overbay finished to game 3-for-4, with a two-out double in the 9th.

CC Sabathia takes the mound in the rubber game if this three-game series tomorrow night on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. He'll be opposed by Red Sox right-hander Ryan Dempster.

"They are big losses, in a sense, but you can't make too much of one game," Girardi said. "You have to go out and win a series tomorrow. That's the bottom line. You have to win the series and we have an opportunity to do that."

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