Nunez Back In the Lineup For Matinee Match

The Yankees came home winners last night in the biggest of way, with a walk-off single by Vernon Wells with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th, not only giving the Yankees their 5th straight victory, but given Ivan Nova a huge win after a dominating nine inning performance.

After failing to score with the bases loaded and only one out in the 5th inning, the Yankees were presented with the exact same opportunity in the 9th, and this time, didn't fail to execute, sengin the home fans home happy.

Today's Lineup, 1:05 EST @ Yankee Stadium:

Gardner CF
Ichiro RF
Cano 2B
Hafner DH
Almonte LF
Overbay 1B
Cruz 3B
Nunez SS
Stewart C

Pettitte P

Pitching Preview:

Andy Pettitte will have a tough job ahead of him, trying to follow up Nova's dominating performance on Friday night, while also trying to right the ship, going 0-3 with a 5.84 ERA in his last four starts.

Pettitte's last start came on Tuesday against the Twins in Minnesota. He was removed from the game in the 6th inning after giving up a go-ahead homerun. He allowed four runs on six hits, while walking four and striking out two.

His second strikeout of the game was the big one that moved him past Whitey Ford to become the leader in strikeouts in Yankees history.

Chris Tillman is going for his 7th straight win, after going 6-0 in the month of June.

Only a handful of Yankees have faced Tillman in his career, including Robinson Cano, who's 9-for-18 with one homerun and six RBI's against Tillman, and Lyle Overbay is batting .375 with a pair of homeruns against the Baltimore right-hander.

Yankee Notes:

* Eduardo Nunez is back in the Yankees lineup, returning to action after missing the last 56 games with a left oblique strain. The Yankees have certainly been missing his bat in the lineup and will get him back batting 8th and playing shortstop today.

"The one thing that Nunez hasn't had is he hasn't played a bunch of games in a row," Girardi said. "Don't be surprised if I give him a day off here and there the next week or so, just because he's not probably equipped to play the next nine days in a row. He's probably not that type of shape yet and I'll have to be smart about it."

* David Phelps has been placed in the DL with a "slight forearm strain" and will be shut down for at least 10 days before throwing again. Him moving to the DL is what cleared up space for Nunez on the roster.

"We just felt it was in our best interest," Girardi said. "There was discussion of him just skipping him a start. Instead, just putting him on the DL, seeing that we have the All-Star break on our side. Making sure that he's healthy."

Phelps pitched 6 1/3 innings of four-run ball on Thursday against the Twins, and said he was a little sore but the pain was higher up on his arm. He underwent an MRI on Friday that revealed the strain.

* Hiroki Kuroda threw a bullpen session on Friday and felt good enough that the Yankees will slot him back into the rotation to pitch against the Orioles on Sunday. Phil Hughes will now pitch on Monday, Sabathia will start on Tuesday, and Nova will pitch in Wednesday against the Kansas City Royals.

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Wells Walks Off For A 5th Straight Win

Ivan Nova, hands down, wins the award for "Best Performance From A Yankees Starting Pitcher This Season." Making only his 6th start of the season, Nova brought us back to 2011 when he went 16-4 in his breakout rookie season for the Yankees.

Nova may have lost his starting job to David Phelps when he went down with an injury in late April, but after tonight, there's no way that Joe Girardi can't give him more chances.

His only blemish throughout the entire game came in the 2nd inning when he started things out by hitting the dangerous Chris Davis. It was followed up by a homerun off the bat by Matt Wieters that managed to just barely slip it's way over the left field wall.

From there on out, Nova was unhittable. He held the Orioles hitless for the rest of the game, issuing only a walk to Wieters in the 7th inning, going to full nine innings for the first time in his career. He gave up two runs on three hits, while walking one and striking out 11 on 102 pitches.

"He gave up the one home run early then just was really, really good," manager Joe Girardi said. "You've got to give him a lot of credit."

The only problem was that the Yankees had only given Nova one run of support through the first eight innings, making it very possible he could take the loss after throwing an absolutely stellar performance.

"I was positive the whole night. I knew that we were going to win at some point," Nova said. "I told a couple of the guys, 'It's impossible that I can pitch that way, the first time, and lose the game.'"

Baltimore's starter Miguel Gonzalez did his best to keep up with Nova, holding the Yankees to only one run on four hits, walking five and striking out four through six frames.

His only permitted run came in the 4th inning when Vernon Wells shot a two-out single to left, followed by a walk to Lyle Overbay, then new Yankee Luis Cruz picked up his 2nd RBI with the team, singling the left field to get Wells in from 2nd base.

After that, it was up to only the best picture the win the game for their team. Throughout the night, Nova was that pitcher. The O's bullpen had done a good job holding the Yankees to only one hit off of O'Day in the 7th and 8th innings.

Needing only three outs to win the game, the Orioles brought on baseball best closer from a year ago, Jim Johnson. Yet, for the 6th time this season, he failed to get the job done.

David Adams began the inning by singling to right field off of Johnson. Attempting to move the runner over, Brett Gardner laid down a sac-bunt that Johnson couldn't handle, fumbling the ball, giving Gardner the base, and giving the Yankees runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out.

"Holy mackerel," Adams said. "It was kind of a line-drive bunt, so my initial reaction was to freeze. As soon as I see it down, I'm going as fast as I can. In my mind, I'm just, 'Oh my God, just get there, get there.' Thank God he fumbled the ball."

Ichiro followed up with a another bunt, moving Adams to 3rd as the tying run and Gardner to 2nd as the winning run. But with 1st base open, O's manager Buck Showalter took no chances pitching to Cano, walking him to load the bases for Travis Hafner.

Still pitching with a one-run lead, Johnson lost all of his composer, walking Hafner on four pitches to force home a run and tie the game at 2-2. Then Wells, with already a hit on the night, slapped a 2-2 fastball from Johnson into left field to send everyone home, in walk-off fashion.

"Those are fun. Anytime you can jump around, get punched a little bit after doing something good, it's a good time," Wells said. "Those are times, like when we turned the triple play, when you see the kid come out in us. That's the great part about this game. You forget that we do this for a living and just brings us back to when you're a kid."

Saturday's matinee will feature Andy Pettitte taking the mound against the Orioles best starter this season, Chris Tillman. That contest kicks off at 1:05 EST from Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

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Yankees Look For Revenge With The O's In Town

The last time the Orioles and Yankees met was just last weekend, and it was a weekend that the Yankees wanted to forget. This time, with the Orioles coming into the Bronx, the Yankees are will have a great shot at redemption.

The Yankees are returning home after a trip to Minnesota that couldn't have gone any better for the Bombers, sweeping the Twins in four games, doing so with the help of the offense that came alive with 29 runs in four games.

Tonight's Lineup, 7:10 EST @ Yankee Stadium:

Gardner CF
Ichiro RF
Cano 2B
Hafner DH
Wells LF
Overbay 1B
Cruz SS
Stewart C
Adams 3B

Nova P

Pitching Preview:

Ivan Nova is getting another chance to prove to manager Joe Girardi and the rest of the coaching staff that he has what it takes to return to the rotation. His last start for the Yankees came on June 23rd against the Rays when he gave up three runs on seven hits while striking out seven over 6 2/3 innings.

His last outing was against the Orioles on Saturday when he came in to relieve David Phelps in only the 3rd inning. Nova held the O's to only two runs on six hits over 5 2/3 innings, with the only runs coming off of a two-run homerun by Chris Davis.

Baltimore will send lefty Miguel Gonzalez out to the mound, who has already pitched pretty well against the Yankees this season, allowing only allowed five runs (four earned) in two starts against the Bombers in 2013.

"The advantage is, I face a lot of lefties and my offspeed works pretty well against them," Gonzalez said of facing the Yankees often. "And mixing in pitches, I think, just helps me out a little bit more."

Gonzalez faced the Indians in his last outing, giving up three runs on nine hits over 6 2/3 innings. His season ERA stands at 3.77 after 14 starts.

Yankee Notes:

* The Yankees announced Friday afternoon that Derek Jeter will begin a Minor League rehab assignment on Saturday with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Jeter is scheduled to play at least five innings at shortstop in the RailRiders'.

Manager Joe Girardi spoke to the media before the game and said, "He's been dying to get out there. This is a really good sign." Adding, "He would be up here tomorrow if it were up to him."

The Yankees haven't set a firm return date for his return, just saying that they expect him back after the All-Star break. But they do expect Jeter will need the full 20 days to complete his rehab assignment.

* Alex Rodriguez is continuing his rehab assignment Friday night with the Class-A Tampa Yankees. Rodriguez played two games with the Class-A Charleston RiverDogs earlier this week.

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Trade Deadline Needs: First Base

Listen, I like Lyle Overbay and everything that he's been doing as a placeholder for the Yankees, but I don't they should stick with him for the rest of the season. The Yankees are almost never buyers for big name players at the deadline, but this year more than ever, they need to be.

Overbay was great through the first month, but he's not an everyday player and as the season continues, it's showing and a move is needed. Someone I think we can all agree on is Justin Morneau, for many reasons.

In my opinion, I think that Morneau would be a perfect in Yankee Stadium. I know that he hasn't been showing the same power he once had, but consider this: he, just like Joe Mauer, has not had the same power since the Twins moved outdoors to their nice big ballpark.

It's not easy to have a 30 homerun season playing at Target Field. Morneau has power, and he showed us some of that on Thursday with a pair a long balls, and I think if you move him into playing with the short porch in right, he'll have a grand time.

From a financial standpoint, I think trading for Morneau is a good fit. Teixeira, hopefully, will be back completely healthy next season. Morneau's contract expires after 2013, and the Yankees would only need to pay for about half of his $15 million for this season.

If you're still not convinced, here's my final selling point: Morneau is having a better season than Overbay. He's batting 50 points higher than Overbay, his on-base percentage is about 50 points higher, he's got 15 more RBI's on three less homeruns, remember the ballpark difference, and Morneau's WAR (0.9) is higher than Overbay's (0.1), for those who pay attention to WAR.

Are there other options at first base? Yes, yes there other options. But I think that Morneau is the best fit for the Yankees. And if you disagree, who you probably do, let me know and I'll be willing to debate.

Please, take to Twitter (@GavinEwbank2013) and let me know this: Yeh or Neh for Justin Morneau. 

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Bats Big Again, Yankees Sweep The Twins

Nothing is more American than baseball. And nothing is more New York Yankees than winning. Searching for their fourth straight win, the Yankees sent David Phelps out to the mound hoping he could give them that win, and he delivered.

Phelps looked nothing like he did in his last outing against the Orioles, when he gave up nine runs in 2 2/3 innings, holding the Twins to only four runs over 6 2/3 innings and was also given much support from the his offense to lead the Yankees to a 9-5 win.

"It was good -- the offense picked it up a lot, which was great to see," Hafner said. "The important thing was getting four wins, which is tough to do. Overall, we played well. Hopefully, now offensively we can keep it going."

The Yankees jumped all over Twins starter Kyle Gibson early in the game, scoring three runs in the 1st inning and two more in the 3rd.

Ichiro doubled off the right field wall to open up the ballgame, then Zoilo Almonte, batting second for the first time, single to right to set up runners on the corners with Robinson Cano up. Cano drove a fly ball to deep left field, giving Ichiro enough to tag and score from third.

Travis Hafner followed with a double to down the left field line, then Vernon Wells, playing in place of Brett Gardner, who was given the day off, didn't disappoint his manager, singling into center field to bring home a pair of runs to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead.

Wells was at it again in the 3rd inning, doubling into the left-center field gap to plate Hafner. Wells finished 2-for-4 with three RBI's. Luis Cruz singled to left field a couple batter later, picking up his first hit as a Yankee and driving home Lyle Overbay in the process.

Minnesota threatened to score in the first few innings, but didn't get onto the scoreboard until Justin Morneau uncorked his first of two homeruns on the game, a solo shot to right field.

The Yankees answered that homerun in the 6th inning when the managed to put up four more runs on the Twins, including a two-run double by Ichiro, who went 3-for-5 in the game, batting in Gardner's normal leadoff spot, and was a homerun shy of the cycle.

The Twins tried there best to make a late comeback in the 7th inning when they put together a couple base hits and score a pair of runs off of Phelps to knock him out of the game with two outs in the 7th. He finished with four runs on eight hits, while walking none and striking out five.

"I thought his location was better; I thought his curveball was a little bit better," Girardi said of Phelps. "He used his changeup. I thought he was a little bit better with his cutter, too."

Joba Chamberlain was brought in, but gave up a single to the first he he faced and was quickly lifted by Joe Girardi. Boone Logan replaced Joba and he, too, gave up a couple hits and a run.

In another jam in the 8th, Girardi lifted Logan in favor of Shawn Kelley and he quickly struck out the first two hitters he faced, then was able to induce a ground out to end the inning. David Robertson tossed a 1-2-3 9th inning to seal up the Yankees win.

"We were glad to see June go away and July start," Wells said. "The important thing is scoring runs and adding runs on, taking advantage of mistakes. We're getting pitches up in the zone, and we're not missing them. This is obviously a good thing heading back home, where we can obviously do some damage in our park."

Next up, the Yankees will head back home for series against the Orioles starting on Friday at Yankee Stadium. Ivan Nova will be making Hiroki Kuroda's scheduled start and he'll be facing off against Miguel Gonzalez at 7:05 EST from the Bronx.

"We're going home for a long stretch and we're bringing some momentum with us," Phelps said. "It would have been real easy to just take what happened in Baltimore and carry it into here, but we've got a good group of guys and we put it behind us."

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Cervelli Suffers A Setback In Rehab

Francisco Cervelli was hoping to return to the Yankees sometime after the All-Star break, but now we won't see the Yankees Opening Day catcher back in the Bronx until at least August.

Cervelli has suffered a setback in his rehab, after it was announced the he has a “stress reaction” in his right elbow, according to manager Joe Girardi. “It’s not what we want,” Girardi said. “But we're dealing with it.”

An MRI revealed on Wednesday that there was a stress fracture in this elbow, and the Yankee medical staff told Girardi that it's related to his original injury. A stress reaction is the precursor to a stress fracture, and a sign of fatigue in the bones.

“They talked about it being an old injury,” Girardi said. “For whatever reason, it reared its ugly head. You don’t know if because of the broken hand, maybe he was throwing a little bit different, or what it is.”

Cervelli had the pins removed from his right hand just a couple weeks ago, and he had been taking batting practice and catching simulated games.

He's only played in 17 games for the Yankees this season since taking a foul tip off his hand in late April, batting .269 with three homers and eight RBIs. In his place, Chris Stewart has been slotted into the starting catcher role, with the struggling Austin Romine playing backup.

"They've done a pretty good job," Girardi said. "We talk about the first thing is handling our staff, and I think they've done a pretty good job handling our staff. We'll just keep going with the guys that we have."

This type of injury is nothing new to the Yankees this season, though it's in a different body part, as a stress fracture is the same thing that popped up in Jeter's ankle during spring training and has kept him off the field since then.

Up Now: You can read the Independence Day preview, with a Phelps vs Gibson pitching preview, team lineups, and some news on the rehab's of A-Rod an Nunez.

Again, Happy 4th of July! Follow @GavinEwbank2013 on Twitter.

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Yankees Go For An Independence Day Sweep

CC Sabathia put in his usual grinding, workhorse effort last night against the Twins, giving up two runs over seven innings en route to the 200th victory of his career.

Robbie Cano continued to tear the cover off of the ball, collecting a pair of hits including a game-tying two-run double in the in the 6th inning, when Twins manager Ron Gardenhire decided to pitch to the streaking slugger with first base open.

Independence Day lineup, 2:10 EST @ Target Field:

Ichiro 8
Almonte 7
Cano 4
Hafner DH
Wells 9
Overbay 3
Cruz 6
Gonzalez 5
Romine 2
Phelps 1

Pitching Preview:

David Phelps would really like to forget his last outing in which he couldn't make it past the 3rd innings, allowing nine earned runs in 2 1/3 innings against the Orioles last Saturday.

"Regardless of what point in the game you come out, if you give up nine runs, it's going to be agonizing," Phelps said of his performance vs. Baltimore. "Knowing you went out and didn't really give the team a chance to win is probably the worst part of it."

Other than that one start, Phelps had put together a pretty good month of June, going 2-1 with a 2.66 ERA in his four other outings. In three career starts against AL Central opponents, Phelps is 1-2 with a 1.62 ERA.

Minnesota will try to salvage the final game of the series when they send out rookie starter Kyle Gibson, who will be making only second big league start. Gibson made his Major League debut on Saturday against the Royals, allowing two runs on eight hits in six innings while striking out five.

"I thought he handled it well," Twins manager Terry Ryan said. "A lot of attention. Certainly, expectations were high. He handled the pace well. He threw strikes, kept the game moving and, most important, we won that baseball game. We're not looking for moral victories. We want to win the game."

Yankee Notes:

* Alex Rodriguez played in his second rehab game last night for the Single-A Charleston RiverDogs, going 0-for-2 with a pair of groundouts. and didn't get anything hit his way at third base.

 A-Rod swung at the first pitch of his first at-bat and hit a high chopper to the first baseman, who fielded the ball and toss it to the pitcher covering first to retire Rodriguez.

In his second at-bat, he fell behind in the count, 1-2, then on the fourth pitch of the at-bat, he grounded out to the second baseman to end the inning and his night.

"It was nice to make contact, and it's a work in progress," he said. "If I can save all of my hits until New York, I am fine with that."

A-Rod will now spend Thursday working out in Charleston, then is heading back to Florida on Friday to join the Single-A Tampa Yankees on their current road trip in Lakeland, Florida. He'll play with Tampa on Friday and Saturday, then will take Sunday off. After that, the Yankees will plan his next move.

* Eduardo Nunez was also with A-Rod in Charleston to rehab as well, going 0-for-2 with a walk and a run scored on Wednesday and was 2-for-3 on Tuesday, going 2-for-5 in his two games for the RiverDogs.

Nunez will join the Double-A Trenton Thunder tonight for the next stage of his rehab. Yesterday, he told reporters that he hopes to return the the big league Yankees before the All-Star Break.

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Sabathia Gets His 200th Wins, Yanks Win 3rd Straight

CC Sabathia was all but assured that he would be getting his 200th career win against the Orioles last Friday in Baltimore. He took a no-hitter into the 6th inning, but unraveled to give up three runs to try the game in the 6th, then gave up a go-ahead home run in the 7th.

In his follow-up outing against the Twins at Target Field, though he didn't quite have no-hit stuff, but he was still good enough to battle for seven strong to earn to 200th victory of his long, tenured career.

"I feel like all of them, I've had to battle for," Sabathia said. "Early I felt like all of them were like this; kind of all over the place, a couple of walks, runners on base, just battling to get outs. I think that's just me."

Things weren't entirely going CC's way early on, giving up a few hits through the first couple of innings, but luckily he was able to escape each inning with anyone scoring, until the third inning when Minnesota put a couple runners on base to start things, then Joe Mauer sent a double to left field that scored the first run of the game.

Trevor Plouffe added another run for the Twins in the 5th inning on a solo homerun to center field off of Sabathia. Gardner ran back and just seemed to run out of room as he leaped towards the wall. It was the 18th homer that CC has allowed this season, 2nd in the Majors.

As the 6th inning rolled around, I pointed out on Twitter that the Yankees needed to score some runs to give CC something to work with, and scoring runs is exactly what they did.

Brett Gardner walked to open the inning, then Ichiro doubled off of the wall in right field. The Twins manager Jon Gardenhire decided to pitch to Robbie Cano with first base open and, well, it didn't play out well as continued his hot hitting with a two-run double to right field, tying the game at 2-2.

"The only way that you can look at it, it's a team that is not in the race," Cano said. "Maybe when you're in the race, it's different. The last thing you want is the same guy to beat you twice, the third hitter to beat you. Maybe I would say that's the difference. They're taking their chances."

"He's a great hitter. You're trying to figure out different ways," Gardenhire said. "The bottom line is, you want him to chase. If you get pitches up in the zone, he kills it, and he did it again tonight."

Travis Hafner followed with a single to left that moved Cano to third. A couple batters later, Lyle Overbay lined a sac-fly to center field that was deep enough for Cano to score from third to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead. A lead they wouldn't give up.

Sabathia rebounded from the Plouffe homerun to hold the Twins scoreless over the next two innings to finish with a season-high 121 pitches, holding the Twins to two runs on seven hits, while walking three and striking out nine.

"When he doesn't have his best stuff, he's going to find a way to get it done, and that's what he did tonight," catcher Chris Stewart said. "He got into quite a few jams out there, but he made big pitches when he needed to and got out of them."

David Robertson worked a scoreless 8th inning, lowering his ERA to 2.48, then Mariano Rivera picked up his 3rd save in as many days, number 28 for the season, and CC had picked up his 200th win.

Today, the Yankees will try to sweep the Twins in this four-game set on Independence Day, with a afternoon start time of 2:10 pm EST, with David Phelps taking the mound to face Kyle Gibson and the rest of the Minnesota Twins.

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Sabathia Aims To A Capture Series Win

With 17 runs in the first two games of the series, the Yankees will look to continue their offensive tear in Minnesota when they aim to capture their first series win since early May against the Seattle Mariners.

Robinson Cano continued his hot hitting last night with a three-run homerun in the 7th, his 4th homerun in three games. Alberto Gonzalez also had himself a good night, collecting a pair of hits and three RBI's in the Yankees 7-3 win. Cano is 5-for-8 against Minnesota with three home runs, six RBIs and five runs through the first two games, and is batting .571 on the current road trip.

"You know how much damage he can do, and he can get really, really hot," manager Joe Girardi said. "You look at the last four or five days, he's swung the bat really well. You want that really hot streak to go a long time. It's comforting."

Phil Hughes turned in his second straight solid outing, tossing seven innings of one run ball, permitting six hits, walking two and striking out three on 114 pitches.

Tonight's Lineup, 8:10 EST @ Target Field:

Gardner 8
Suzuki 9
Cano 4
Hafner DH
Almonte 7
Overbay 3
Stewart 2
Cruz 6
Adams 5
Sabathia 1

Pitching Preview:

CC Sabathia will try to follow up Hughes' win worthy outing, while also trying to rebound from a disappointing loss against the Baltimore Orioles last Friday night. He took a no-hitter into the 6th innings, but blew a 3-0 lead in the 6th inning, an eventually gave up a go-ahead homerun to Nate McLouth in the 7th.

"I feel like I'm wasting starts," Sabathia said after the loss in Baltimore. "I'm feeling great and throwing the ball good. I've just not been able to put together a whole start. It's just frustrating."

He'll also be looking to flip the page on June after having a fairly rough month, giving up at least four or more runs in four of his five starts, tallying up a 5.11 ERA for the month.

Minnesota will try to save the series with their right-hander P.J. Walters. Walters has given up six runs in each of his past two starts, and couldn't make it past two outs in the first inning in a loss to Cleveland on June 22nd and three only went innings in a loss to the Royals on Friday.

"That's two in a row where I hadn't done my job," Walters said on Friday. "Falling behind, obviously, last week it was walking guys, today it was falling behind and giving up hits. Either way it was two bad ones in a row. I've got to come back and straighten some things out."

Yankee notes:

* Jayson Nix missed yesterday's with a sore hamstring that the Yankees considered a day-to-day thing, but MRI results came back today showing that the back-up to Jeter's back-up is suffering with a Grade 2 strain in his right hamstring, forcing the utility man to the 15-Day DL.

* With Nix going to the DL, the Yankee went out and signed free-agent infielder Luis Cruz to a minor-league deal. Cruz his .127 with one homerun and six RBI's in 45 games with the Dodgers before electing free-agency on Tuesday. He'll be batting 8th and playing shortstop in his first game as a Yankee.

* Sabathia will be taking another shot at earning the 200th victory in his career. He'd be the 4th active pitcher with 200+ wins (Pettitte, Halladay, Hudson). The last to do so was Tim Hudson earlier this year.

Enjoy the game. Don't get hurt. Follow @GavinEwbank2013 on Twitter.

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Cano Goes Deep, Hughes Great Again

Robinson Cano has been on fire lately, and he didn't do anything on Tuesday to cool himself off. Adding another pair of hits, including homerun, to help backup Phil Hughes stellar seven inning performance in the Yankees 7-3 win over the Twins from Target Field.

"They had a lot of lefties in the lineup, and I felt like I was able to get my fastball inside to those guys, for the most part," Hughes said. "I made a few critical pitches when I had to to get out of some jams, the offense did their job, and it was a good win."

Minnesota wasted no time getting on the board with a first inning run off of Hughes, who had gotten himself into trouble at several points throughout the night.

Facing 30-year-old righty Samuel Deduno, the Yankees had no answer against him for the first three inning, being set down in order up until Ichiro walked with one-out in the inning. Cano followed with a walk, giving the Yankees a good chance to go some damage, but were unable to plate any runs.

The Yankees didn't touch the scoreboard until the 5th inning when Alberto Gonzalez doubled with a couple runners on base, driving home two of his three RBI in the game. Ichiro came up a couple batters later an beat out a slow dribbler down the 1st base line, letting Gonzalez score the third Yankee run.

After Gonzalez added another run in the 7th on a single to right that plated Adams, his 3rd RBI and 2nd hit, Robbie Cano sent flying his 4th homerun in three games, a towering three-run blast that set the Yankees ahead, 7-1.

"Everyone knows very well what my role on this team is," Gonzalez said. "Joe knows it, I know it. I'm always ready, I work very, very hard at every practice, at every position, and I'm always ready when the team needs me and when the manager needs me."

Cano gave Hughes a big enough lead for him to finish off the 7th inning, allowing only one run on six hits, while walking two and striking out three to pick up his first win since June 7th in Seattle.

It's the second straight impressive outing for Hughes, after giving up only two runs in 8 innings against the Rangers last week.

"I think he's been more consistent. I also think it's fastball command, too," Girardi said. "I think that's really important for him, but I think when you're mixing all your pitches, sometimes you get away with a little bit more."

Preston Claiborne tossed a scoreless 8th inning, but couldn't duplicate it in the 9th, giving up a pair of runs on three hits to left the Twins make it a 7-3 game. Adam Warren also couldn't close out the game and was removed after walking the only batter he faced.

This game called for Mariano Rivera to come in and shut things down, getting Ryan Doumit to ground into a fielders choice to end the game, earning his 27th save of the season, needing only one out to it.

Game three of this four game series will take place tomorrow with CC Sabathia (8-6, 4.15) facing off against P.J. Walters (2-4, 6.03) at 8:10 p.m. ET from Target Field in Minnesota.

Kuroda in New York:

Hiroki Kuroda was sent back to New York before tonight's game, and according to manager Joe Girardi, Kuroda is dealing with a sore left hip flexor, luckily the MRI results came back clean. Ivan Nova will start on Friday against the Orioles in his place.

"There's no tears," Girardi said. "He's a little sore. That's the best news we could have got."

"That's what you want, a clean MRI," manager Joe Girardi said of the results. "He was a little tender after the game on Sunday, so it's good news. He said he felt better today."

Nix day to day:

The Yankees had no choice but to play with a two-man bench on Tuesday, with Jayson Nix out on a day to day basis with a sore right hamstring. Nix says he hurt the hamstring running out a double in the 9th inning of the Yankees' 10-4 victory over the Twins on Monday.

"It just kind of tightened up a little bit when I stretched out the double last night," Nix said. "I wasn't too concerned about it, just something that was there and was a little bit sore after the game. It's a little something that kind of started, so we're going to keep it under control."

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Hughes Hope To Continue His Good Pitching

Scoring 10 runs last night, the most they've scored in well over a month, the Yankees were able to explode offensively in what hopes to be a turning point in the Yankees season.  Robinson Cano exploded for two homeruns on a three-hit night. Cano is now 10-for-17 at the plate through four games of the team's seven-game trip, with three home runs and five RBIs.

Tonight's lineup, 8:05 @ Target Field:

Gardner CF
Ichiro RF
Cano 2B
Hafner DH
Almonte LF
Overbay 1B
Stewart C
Adams 3B
Gonzalez SS

Hughes P

Pitching Preview:

Phil Hughes was essentially pitching for his starting job in his last outing, and he turned in a start that would give him another chance. Hughes tossed eight innings of two-run ball against the Rangers on Thursday, but still went home with the loss after the Yankees failed to back him up with their bats.

"Every time I take the ball, I just clear my head and go out there and do the best job I possibly can," Hughes said on Thursday. "I really don't let talk and things like that creep into my head, so I guess it takes some experience and going through it to handle that stuff better. It's really not an issue."

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire will counter with right-hander Samuel Deduno, who's pitching very lately, having allowed two earned runs or less in five of his past six starts.

Deduno struggled with his command in his few few starts, but has since figured things out. After issuing 10 free passes in his first four starts this season, he has walked just four batters over his past three outings.

"I think commanding his fastball better," Gardenhire said. "We all know he can throw the breaking ball, and that's what he'd always go to when he'd get behind because he couldn't always get his fastball."

Yankee Notes:

* Mark Teixeira tweeted out today that  his wrist surgery was a success and that his doctor said things couldn't have went any better for the Gold Glove first baseman. Teixeira will now finish the rest of the season on the disabled list, while he recovers for at least the next 5-6 months.

* Alex Rodriguez will play for the Single-A Charleston River Dogs tonight in South Carolina. A-Rod said during his pre-game press conference that he'll play two games for the River Dogs, then have workout day, then join the Single-A Tampa Yankees in Lakeland. A-Rod will play at least three innings tonight at third base, batting second and will try to get in two at-bats.

"I've got to tell you, I'm really, really excited," Rodriguez said. "This probably has to be the hardest injury I've tried to overcome. It has to be the longest process, that's for sure.

"I'm as curious as you guys are to see how I'm going to react. It's been a while since I've been in competition. It will be baby steps."

Have a good night. Thanks for reading, and follow @GavinEwbank2013 on Twitter

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Yanks look to break the skid in Minnesota.

Unable to leave Baltimore with as little as one win, the Yankees will take their cold bats to The Twin Cities in Minnesota for a four game set against the Twins. The Yankees are coming in on a five-game losing streak, entering play at 6 1/2 games behind the Red Sox in the AL East.

"We're definitely in striking distance," said manager Joe Girardi. "We're in the middle of our division right now. You'd like to be better, but it's not the case. It should be a very interesting second half."

Tonight's lineup, 8:05 ET @ Target Field:

Gardner CF
Nix SS
Cano 2B
Wells RF
Hafner DH
Almonte LF
Overbay 1B
Stewart C
Adams 3B

Pettitte P

Pitching Preview:

Andy Pettitte will look to be the man that solves as the Yankees problems while trying to fix some things of his own. Pettitte has been very great since returning from a strained trapezius in early June, going 2-3 with a 4.83 ERA over his last five starts.

Pettitte began the season 3-0 with a 2.01 ERA in his first three starts, but has since struggled to go 2-6 with a 5.06 ERA.

"He had the real good first month," manager Joe Girardi said. "Then he kind of went through some starts where he didn't feel like he had all his weapons. I think he has had them all now. One inning, here or there, has cost him."

Minnesota will counter with a lefty of their own when they send out Scott Diamond, who's 1-3 over his last fours starts. He last started against the Marlins on Wednesday, working efficiently through four innings, giving up only two hits, before falling apart in the fifth, when he gave up three runs on five hits, including a home run.

Yankee notes:

*The Yankees annnounced today that Alex Rodriguez has finally been cleared to play in Minor League rehab games and will join the Single-A Charleston Riverdogs on Tuesday.

Rodriguez will play a minimum of three innings at third base for the Riverdogs, starting his 2-day rehab clock. If he plays out the full 20 days, he could return on July 22nd when the Yankees are in Texas. If A-Rod comes joins the Yankees a few days early, he could meet the in Boston.

A-Rod released this statement earlier today: "Had another good workout today and feel great and I'm excited to get back on the field tomorrow."

*Andy Pettitte is looking to change the record books tonight, needing only one strikeout to pass Whitey Ford to becomes the teams all-time leader in strikeouts, passing the current record of 1,975.

If you're looking for something to read before the game, you can check out this piece from ESPN New York about the history of Pettitte's punch-outs.

Enjoy the game, and don't forget to follow @GavinEwbank2013 on Twitter.

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The Pineda Problem: Should he be called-up?

We're about eight days away from finding out if the Yankees will call-up the big, talented prospect they gave up Jesus Montero for over a year ago. But after being roughed up today in his second rehab outing in Double-A Trenton, I have to ask, should the Yankees call him up next week or send him to Scranton (although I hear Scranton ain't a bad place to live compared to the Bronx).

Of course it was just one little bump in the road. Up until this point, he's been pitching pretty well on his road to recovery.

Facing off against top Mets prospect, Noah Snydergaard, in Binghamton, Pineda failed to stand to the challenge, giving up four runs on four hits, while walking four an striking out four, throwing 67 pitches in on three innings of work.

Through the first couple months of the season, the Yankees have lived off of their pitching, but over the recent weeks, it's been known to let them down at time (as if the offense hasn't done the same).

CC has been living an on-again, off-again type season. Pettitte is showing every bit of his 40-year old wear and tear. Kuroda has been arguably the team best pitcher this season, but has only won one game over his last seven starts. Hughes is easily at risk of losing his job, whether Girardi wants to admit it or not. And Phelps has been solid, but has had a few starts this season in which he's given up a lot of runs in not a not of innings.

At this point, if there's anyone that Pineda might replace on the roster, it wouldn't be a starter, but someone in the bullpen like Nova or Adam Warren.

Although Nova's last couple outing have been pretty good, I can still imagine a scenario in which he's getting on a bus back to AAA. But then again, we haven't seen much of Warren lately, making it likely he could head back to Scranton to get some work in.

Brain Cashman sure does have a tough decision to make with Pineda in the next few days, and it's a decision that might not be made until the clock strikes zero on Pineda's rehab clock.

But luckily for the Yankees, there isn't as much pressure to call him up now because of how things are going for Montero and the Mariners. As wells as things went for him last year, Montero is now in Triple-A trying to fix some early season issues.

Personally, when Hughes makes his next start on Tuesday, the Yankees need to take a good hard look at how he pitches. If it's anything like his last outing against the Rangers, then Pineda is staying in AAA. But if he pitches like the Hughes of the past few weeks, then Cashman should give Pineda a call and congratulate him for being the newest member of the New York Yankees.

Tick-Tock Cashman. Time to make your decision is running out.

Question: Would you call-up Michael Pineda? Comment below or tell me on Twitter, @GavinEwbank2013.

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Kuroda tasked with avoiding a sweep.

They lost a heart breaker on Friday, were blown out on Saturday, now the Yankees will give the ball to Hiroki Kuroda, the most consistent of the Yankees starters this season, with the hopes that he can stop the four game losing skid and avoid a sweep at the hands of the Orioles.

Tonight's lineup, 8:05 PM @ Camden Yards:

Gardner CF
Ichiro RF
Cano 2B
Hafner DH
Almonte LF
Overbay 1B
Nix SS
Stewart C
Adams 3B

Kuroda P

Pitching preview:

Sabathia took a no-hitter into the 6th inning on Friday, but couldn't hold off a late comeback by the Birds. Then Davis Phelps got shelled, being charged with nine runs in 2 1/3 innings on Saturday.

Kuroda is coming off a no-decision against the Rangers in which he allowed only two runs on five hits over 6 2/3 innings, while walking only one and striking out six. He only has one win in his last seven starts, lack of run support being an issue, but has been able to keep his ERA at a low 2.77.

The last time that Kuroda faced the Orioles on May 22nd, things didn't go very well for the righty, as the O's bounced out for five runs on eight hits in only two innings of work.

He'll be opposed by Chris Tillman, who's having a very solid season for Baltimore, with a 9-2 record and 3.72 ERA. Tillman looks to finish off June on the right foot, having gone 5-0 over the past month.

Tillman ran into trouble early in his last start against the Cleveland Indians, but was able to hang around to go seven innings, giving up just three earned runs in a winning effort.

Yankee notes:

--Michael Pineda made his second start for Double-A Trenton on Sunday, but didn't have much success facing Noah Syndergaard, who's one of the Mets top pitching prospects, tossing only three innings, allowing four runs on four hits, while walking four and striking out four, throwing only 67 pitches.

Pineda has 8 days left on his minor league assignment, making it likely that he'll get one more start under his belt before the Yankees decide what to do with him.

--Manager Joe Girardi has mentioned a few days ago that he planned on starting Ivan Nova at some point in the week while the Yankees were in Minnesota, but he told the media before the game that it'll no longer happen.

Girardi said that the Yankees would use rotation of Pettitte-Hughes-Sabathia-Phelps for the four games against the Twins. It's unclear when Nova will get his next chance to start, but for now he'll continue to serve as the long-relief man in the bullpen.

Nova was brought in the relive the struggling Phelps in the 3rd inning, allowing two runs on six hits while striking out four over 5 2/3 innings. The two runs allowed came off of a Chris Davis blast in the 6th.

Tonight's game can be seen on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. Follow @GavinEwbank2013 on Twitter. Enjoy the game!

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Phelps takes the hill in Saturday showdown.

Taking a no-hitter into the 6th inning wasn't enough for CC Sabathia and the Yankees to overcome the Orioles Friday night in the series opener. Baltimore tied the game with three runs in the 6th, then took the lead on a solo homerun by Nate McLouth in the 7th. In the end, the Yankees weren't able to overcome an offensive shortage, falling to the O's 4-3.

Tonight's lineup, 7:10 ET @ Camden Yards:

Gardner CF
Nix SS
Cano 2B
Wells DH
Suzuki RF
Almonte LF
Adams 3B
Overbay 1B
Romine C
Phelps P

Pitching Preview:

David Phelps is making his first of the season against the Orioles, looking to end his spectacular June in style. Phelps is 2-1 with a 2.66 ERA in the month of June and lowered his season ERA to 4.01.

This will be his second time facing Baltimore, first as a starter. Back on April 13, Phelps tossed four scoreless innings, allowing only one hit, while walking none and striking out six in a relief outing.

As the number starter in the Yankees rotation, Phelps has hardly done anything to disappoint. Since earning a starting job early in the year, he's easily been one of the Yankees better pitchers and solidified himself in the back-end of the rotation.

Phelps will be opposed by Baltimore lefty, Zach Britton, who's made a pair of starts since recently being called up, but has only tallied up 10 2/3 innings in those two starts, while striking out six and walking six. His last outing was against the Indians on Monday when he gave up three runs over five plus innings.

"[He] just elevated some balls, lost his command," manager Buck Showalter said. "He had pretty good movement, late life. He got out of some potential sticky situations, but I thought he pitched well for five innings. But ... different stuff showed up there in the sixth."

Britton has never had success in his career against the Yankees, entering play with a disastrous ERA of 7.82 over six starts.

Game notes:

Facing a lefty for the second straight day, the Yankees are once again without Travis Hafner in their lineup, but have slotted Lyle Overbay back into the starting nine.

The Yankees offense has not done a great job of treading water lately, going 12-19 over their last 31 games, while averaging only 3.2 runs per game. It's been a while since we've since the April Yankees.

"We've got to figure it out," Girardi said. "For me to spend all my time worrying about that is not going to do me any good. The bottom line is that I think these guys are capable of getting it done, and we've just got to do it."

"On a daily basis, I don't really think a lot about it. I think about how you're going to win that game today," he said. "As we left Spring Training, we said that the strength of our club was going to be our pitching, and we were probably going to have to win a lot of tight games. We're going to have to continue to do that if we're going to have success."

Tonight's game can be seen on FOX, and you can follow @GavinEwbank2013 on Twitter.

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Trade Deadline Needs: Third Base.

It's becoming more and more evident everyday that if the Yankees are going to have any chance at succeeding in the playoffs, they're going to need a offensively sound third baseman to held them achieve their goals.

Last night's starting third baseman, Alberto Gonzalez, gave the Yankees very little to cheer about with his 0-for-4 performance, that included three strikeouts and an error in the field. Gonzalez only has three hits for the Yankees, none since May 15th against the Mariners, and is batting a mere .100 with no RBI's.

Remember when the Yankees signed Kevin Youkilis and everyone was all like, "What's going to happen when A-Rod comes back, leaving us with two third baseman?" Well, Youkilis is probably done for the year and A-Rod isn't sure that he's going to see the field again in 2013.

The Yankees thought they had something special in David Adams, but now he doesn't look like he has a clue about what to do at the plate and his batting average is dropping each and every game.

Girardi hasn't been able to pencil down a normal third baseman in a while and it's hurting the Yankees. Nix, although he's going an OK job, is normally a SS/2B, Gonzalez is normally a SS/2B, and Adams came up mainly at second base, not as a third baseman.

When you rank the Yankees third base production against the other teams in the American League, the Yanks are last in homeruns (4) and last in RBI's (28). A .234 average ranks them 21st in baseball, and a .324 slugging percentage ranks them 28th.

An upgrade is need now, not later. Cashman can't risk waiting on A-Rod, hoping he comes back sometime after the All-Star break, and lose out some of the other options around the league.

As for the options, there are a few players that can fit into the Yankees mold, but there isn't many. For instance, I mentioned Michael Young the other day and not many people seemed to agree with me, although there are some reports the suggest the Yankees are interested in trading for Young.

His salary is payable, is average would immediately place himself as one of the Yankees top average hitters, and his ability to play around the diamond, especially 1st base, would help the team in many ways, giving Girardi a better option to back-up Overbay.

Aramis Ramirez is another name to keep an eye on. He's hitting .275 with 5 homeruns and 27 RBI's this season for the Brewers, but he is owed a lot of money over the next couple of years and that's something the Yankees might want to avoid.

Jeff Keppinger is a guy the Yankees went after in the offseason, but didn't get him, obviously. He's hitting .247 with 2 homeruns and 28 RBI's for the White Sox this season, and as a third baseman his fielding percentage is 1.000. So there's that.

As much as the Yankees want to keep payroll down and use players from within the system, they have to understand their system is very stacked with big-league bats. I'm all for them going out to pick up some bats at the deadline, as long as they're not place holders like Reid Brignac, Chris Nelson and Alberto Gonzalez.

Follow @GavinEwbank2013 on Twitter.

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CC takes the mound in Baltimore.

After being shutout for the 7th time this season, the look to finally put their offensive woes behind them as they begin a seven-game road trip that starts tonight in Baltimore for three games, then will head out to Minnesota for a four game set with the Twins.

Tonight's lineup, 7:05 ET @ Camden Yards:

Gardner CF
Nix SS
Cano 2B
Wells DH
Suzuki RF
Almonte LF
Stewart C
Adams 1B
Gonzalez 3B
Sabathia P

Big misunderstanding during the pregame gathering as we were all lead to believe that David Phelps, not Sabathia, was suppose to take the hill for game one of the series. When the lineup was posted, it garnered CC's name, giving the impression that Phelps had been scratched.

Pitching coach Larry Rothschild announced shorty after that Phelps was never intended to start Friday's game, and that Sabathia had always been the scheduled starter, siting that the Yankees had falsely announced the weekends projected rotation.

Either way, all is good and there's nothing to worry about, for now, in the Yankees club house that is currently preparing to face a very young and challenging Orioles lineup, that will attempt to put up some runs to support Baltimore's starting pitcher, T.J. McFarland (1-0, 4.14).

McFarland is making his first career major league start, but has appeared in 18 games as a reliever for the Orioles this season. He'll face off with Sabathia, who's sporting a 3-1 record during the month of June, while also holding a unusually high, 5.10 ERA this month.

For game coverage, you can follow @GavinEwbank2013 on Twitter.

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The pressure is now on Hughes.

Sunday in the Bronx, Ivan Nova made his first start in the majors since leaving with triceps inflammation on April 29th against the Blue Jays. It was only a spot start, but it may have been the beginning of something more.

Nova's afternoon had a bumpy take-off, before he was able to settle in quite nicely against the Rays. Nova delivered one of his best starts of the season, tossing 6 2/3 innings, giving up only three runs on seven hits, while walking three and striking out a season high, seven batters.

His breaking pitches, namingly his slider and curveball, were outstanding. He kept the Rays hitter off-balance and had them guessing throughout the afternoon.

"He was just consistently throwing strikes with everything he had," catcher Chris Stewart said. "His fastball was sinking, we were able to get some groundballs. His curveball was really good."

Up until having two-outs in the 7th inning, Nova was cruising. When he hit Desmond Jennings and Matt Joyce, his day abruptly ended. Leaving to the bullpen to eventually surrender the go-ahead runs that would prove to be the deciding factor in the Rays 3-1 win.

Before the game, manager Joe Girardi wouldn't give any details to the media about what his plans were with Nova. He said that he wanted to first see how he threw the ball. Now that he's see him pitch, it's only a matter of time until a decision is made.

With this brilliant performance now in the books, the ball is in Phil Hughes' court. Hughes has been among the Yankees biggest weakness over the past few weeks, going 1-4 with a 5.86 ERA in his last seven starts.

His last outing against the Dodgers may have been the one to set the countdown for his removal from the rotation in motion. Allowing five runs on 10 hits, he proved be ineffective in a time when it wasn't an option.

"I haven’t really thought about moving Phil out of the rotation." Said Girardi last week. "He’s capable of doing a good job for us but right now, he’s struggling." But after today's game, Girardi did say this: "When you see the way [Nova] pitched today, he makes it real hard."

Hughes was scheduled to next take the mound on Tuesday against the Rangers. Instead, the Yankees pushed him back so that Andy Pettitte and Hiroki Kuroda can make their normal rotation starts. This means that we won't get to see how Hughes responds to the pressure of possibly losing his job until Thursday.

A trip to the bullpen or the minors may be in the future of either Nova or Hughes. Don't for get that Michael Pineda is also on his way. Many decision are are hand for the Yankees as the month progresses.

"The decision that they make, I don't got no control about that," Nova said. "I just got to be happy with the way I threw the ball, and I am. I don't know if I opened their eyes today, but I opened my eyes. That gave me a little more confidence in myself. I knew I could pitch better, and I did."

Nova showed the Yankees his hand on Saturday, and now the pressure is on Hughes to fight back show the doubters that a spot in the rotation is something he deserves.

You can follow @GavinEwbank2013 on Twitter.

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Dodgers make a rare trip to the Bronx.

Donnie Baseball makes his long awaited return the the Bronx as his last place Dodgers will try to turn things around against the reeling Yankees. Rookie sensation will make his first trip to the big apple since coming up and Yankees fans will have a great chance to see what the hype is all about.

Tonight's lineup, 7:05 ET at Yankee Stadium:

Gardner 8
Nix 6
Cano 4
Wells 7
Neal DH
Suzuki 9
Adams 5
Overbay 3
Stewart 2
Hughes 1

Phil Hughes (3-5, 4.89 ERA) has had his fair share of ups and downs this season and just hasn't been able to pull off a string of solid starts this season. His last outing against the Athletics is one he'd like to improve on, tossing only 4 1/3 innings in Oakland.

"I didn't have good stuff that day. It's something that I can't really help sometimes," Hughes said. "It's led to a lot of deep counts, foul balls and the pitch count getting out of control very quickly. I have confidence that I'll bounce back from that."

Hughes' opponent from the other dugout will be Korean rookie, Hyun-Jin Ryu. Unlike Hughes, Ryu has been successful lately, coming into tonight's start on a streak of four straight quality starts with a season ERA of 2.85.

Teixeira to the DL:

Not coming as a big surprise, but the Yankees have officially place Mark Teixeira on the DL. GM Brain Cashman said yesterday that was was leaning towards placing Teixeira on the DL, but was going to wait a few days to see how things played out.

Teixeira was diagnosed with inflammation in his right wrist and received a cortisone shot in his wrist. Lyle Overbay will resume his role as the starting 1st baseman in his absence. Just days after Kevin Youkilis went onto the DL, Teixeira will now join him.

To accommodate the move, the Yankees have called-up RHP Adam Warren from AAA-Scranton along with teammate OF Zolio Almonte. Chris Bootcheck was designated for assignment, as well, today.

Youkilis to have surgery:

The Yankees announced on Tuesday that Kevin Youkilis has been diagnosed with a herniated disk in his back and he will undergo surgery on Thursday. Youkilis is expected to miss a minimum of 10-12 weeks.

This is news that Yankees fan feared. He was placed on the DL on Friday with a lumbar strain in his back and now it seems like his career as a Yankee might be over as know it.

I'll have more on Youkilis as the day goes on and I has more info on Twitter as it becomes available.

Don't forget that you can follow @GavinEwbank2013 on Twitter.

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Monday's notes: Mostly injury news.

Brain Cashman spoke to the media on Monday and he gave out information on many of the Yankees injured stars. Here's what he had to say:

--On Mark Teixeira, Cashman said, "I'm leaning personally towards the disabled list there." Teixeira underwent an MRI in New York on Sunday that came back showing only inflammation in his right wrist, luckily no new tears. He received a cortisone shot and will be out for the next few days. "Not a player for seven days at a minimum" Cashman added.

--Michael Pineda will make his next start for the Tampa Yankees this Thursday in the Florida State League; and he'll be limited to around 80 pitches. Cashman said that Pineda has been sitting at 92 mph in his rehab outings, topping out at 94-95.

--Curtis Granderson is expected to have the pin removed from his hand on Thursday. Granderson continues to work his way back and we currently don't know the exact time we'll see him again on the field. More info on when he begins baseball activities will likely come on Thursday.

--Alex Rodriguez will face live pitching Tuesday in Tampa. I believe that this will be the first time that A-Rod will be facing live pitching during his rehab.

Also, there's nothing new to report on Kevin Youkilis. #Yankees
— Gavin Ewbank (@GavinEwbank2013) June 17, 2013

For more Yankees news you can follow me on Twitter, or just click follow on the tweet above.

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