Hughes delivers 8 shutout innings.

When the 1st batter of the game almost took Phil Hughes deep to start the game, things looked like it would turn into a copy of Friday night. But on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in the Bronx, Hughes delivered his best performance of the season, tossing 8 shutout innings in the Yankees 4-2 win over the A's.

Oakland was only able to manage 4 hits off Hughes over 8 scoreless innings, with only 2 walks and 9 strikeouts as he shutdown the Oakland lineup that leads the majors in runs scored. After retiring the last 10 hitters he faced, the ball was handed to the Yankees bullpen to close out the 9th.

"I feel like I'm kind of clicking right now with what I'm trying to do," Hughes said. "I feel like I'm executing pitches at a better rate than I did early on. As long as I can hit the glove and stay there, and maintain my velocity and strength late in the game, then I feel like I'll be pretty good."

Chrish Stewart got the start behind the plate today and is expected to catch again on Sunday. He got the Yankees on the board in the 3rd inning with a solo homerun to left field off Bartolo Colon. Lyle Overbay added to that in the 5th with a 1st pitch homerun into the 2nd deck in right field, making it 2-0 Yankees.

"It's always nice to give him some support," Overbay said. "It's good to see that he didn't change his way of pitching when we were down those last couple of days. He kept grinding and hoping we'd get him some runs."

The important Yankee runs came in the 6th inning, when it got started with a leadoff double by Robinson Cano, his 344th double as a Yankee tying him with Mickey Mantle for 8th on the all-time Yankees list. Wells used a sac-fly to move him to 3rd, then Travis Hafner blooped a single to left to score Cano and push the Yankees lead to 3-0. That's when Colon's day ended.

Colon allowed 3 runs over 5 1/3 innings, surrendering 6 hits, with 3 strikeouts and no walks. Off Oakland's bullpen in the 7th, Edurdo Nunez triple then was driven a few batter later by Brett Gradner on an infield single, extending the Yankees lead to 4-0.

"You keep extending your lead, which I think is important against this club, because they can strike quick because of the power they have in their lineup," Girardi said. "The bottom of the lineup was excellent. Just an outstanding performance by those guys."

Hughes was attacking hitter all afternoon long as he threw 85 strikes over 117 pitches and was getting ahead of hitters, throwing 21 of 26 1st pitch strikes.

"When I'm getting ahead of guys, it makes it a lot easier to do what I want to do during the course of the at-bat," said Hughes, who has a 1.93 ERA over his last four starts. "I was aggressive with my fastball again, I was able to get ahead and, for the most part, did what I wanted to do."

Shawn Kelley was gien the right to pitch the 9th inning but after giving up a leadoff single, he was pulled by Girardi to hand Mariano Rivera the ball in a non-save situation. Kelley's run scored, then Oakland scored again on an RBI fielders choice. In the end the Yankees fought off the late comeback to win 4-2.

"It's extremely important when you can get to the ninth and you have a four-run lead," Girardi said. "You feel pretty good about your chances with the guy that's been down there for so long. That's an important outing."

The win snapped Hughes' 3 game skid without a decision and lowered his ERA to 3.60 on the season, while having 18 strikeouts over his last two outings. The Yankees have now won 7 of their last 9 games and 10 of the last 13 at Yankee Stadium.

Andy Pettite will look to rebound from a dreadfull outing on Monday against the Astros as he faces off with Dan Straily in the series finale Sunday at 1:05 ET from the Bronx.

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Offense a no show against the A's.

Trailing one pitch into the game, backed by a lights out pitching performance, throw in a little bit of fireworks between players and umpires and you've got yourself all the elements to recreate Friday night's game between the Yankees and Athletics from Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

It only took one pitch to be thrown by CC Sabathia in Friday night's game before the Athletics could take the lead and never look back when Adam Rosales took the 1st pitch of the game deep to left field to put the A's on the board 1-0, quickly.

Things got a little heated in the third inning between Sabathia and plate umpire Jordan Baker, following a two-out single by Jed Lowrie in which CC thought that he had struck out Lowrie on the previous 2-2 pitch. Sabathia shouted and Baker believed that it was directed towards him.

"I can't be yelled at," Sabathia said. "I'm a grown man, and I didn't say nothing to him and he came from behind the plate, so, of course, I was animated."

Yankees manager Joe Girardi proceeded out to the mound to help try to calm his pitcher down, while Chris Stewart tried to fix things with Baker.

"It was just kind of a miscommunication," Yankees catcher Chris Stewart said. "CC was mad at himself. The umpire thought he was talking to him. It was overblown. It wasn't a situation, it just kind of looked like it."

"When I was younger, I dealt with a lot, worrying about umpire's calls and things like that," Sabathia said. "As I've gotten older, I make it a point not to even look down on a check swing or anything like that. Just take that element out of the game."

Overall Sabathia wasn't terrible, but he clearly didn't have his best stuff against an Oakland lineup that leads the league in runs scored. CC allowed 2 runs over 6 innings, surrender 8 hit, while walking 2 and striking out 6 on 118 pitches.

"He only gave up two runs, and he gave up one before he got an out, so after the first hitter he gave up one." Girardi said."They fouled some pitches off. They got in some long counts, which made him throw a lot of pitches in the sixth inning, but I thought he threw OK."

Oakland's 2nd run of the game came in the 6th inning when Derek Norris singled to left with 2-outs off Sabathia which was able to score Yoenis Cespedes. The Athletics had CC working all night, running counts high and forcing CC to throw a lot of pitches.

Adam Warren was brought in to relieve Sabathia in the 7th and he pitch great. Warren went all the way through the 9th inning, tossing 3 scoreless innings, surrendering only 2 hits, while walking 2 and striking out 4.  With a performance like this the Yankees are sure to give Warren more chances in situations like this in the near future.

Athletics starter A.J. Griffin was lights out Friday against the Yankees. Griffin was mixing and matching his pitches all night and the Yankees hitter couldn't find a beat on him through 7 innings. What stood out with Griffin from Sabathia was his ability to keep a low pitch count all night, as he had several innings with less than double-digit pitches.

"A.J. pitched great," Athletics manager Bob Melvin said. "It doesn't really matter what else goes on when you get seven shutout innings from your starter in this ballpark and you've got a fresh bullpen behind you. He was terrific."

Griffin was able to hold the Yankees scoreless over 7 innings while surrendering 6 hits, walking only 1, and striking out 4. A's manager Bob Melvin was able to hand the ball to his bullpen and they didnt fail, as  Sean Doolittle and Grant Balfour were able to combine for 2 perfect inning in the 8th and 9th, to shut down the Yankees and seal a 2-0 A's victory.

"I think that's baseball. You're not going to be able to get them every night," Wells said. "I think you just want guys to try to have good at-bats. Sometimes the outcome is out of your hands, but [it's] just guys continuing to keep the same approach. We'll continue doing that day in and day out."

Game 2 of this weekend series will take place on Saturday with Phil Hughes facing off with Bartolo Colon from Yankee Stadium at 1:05 ET. Hughes is coming off one of his best starts of the season last Sunday against the Blue Jays.

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Yanks welcome the A's.

Coming off an off-day in which the Yankees added another player to the all-star disabled list in Joba Chamberlin, the Oakland Athletics will come to the Bronx in what should prove to be a more challenging series than the Astros.

Since the all-star break last season, the A's have been the highest scoring team in the majors and the Yankees proving pitching staff will be given the task of shutting them down.

Oakland leads the league this season in runs scored (162) and the Yankees pitching staff currently holds a 4.00 ERA. New York doesn't score as many runs as the A's do, but Oakland hasn't been throwing the ball like we're use to seeing.

The Yankees are 6-1 on their current homestand and are looking to finish strong before heading out west to face the Rockies. After sweeping the Blue Jays over the weekend, the Yankees lost big to the Astros on Monday then rebounded to win the next 2 games of the series.

The Athletics and Angels played to 19 innings with the A's coming out 10-8 in Mondays marathon match. Oakland came away winners on Tuesday, then lost the series finale to the Angels on Wednesday.

Both teams currently stand in 2nd place in their respected divisions and will each be looking for win to keep up with their division leaders.

Probable starters:

Fri: Sabathia vs Griffin
Sat: Hughes vs Colon
Sun: Pettitte vs Straily

For more Yankees coverage, as always you can follow @GavinEwbank2013 on Twitter.

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Yankee notes: Joba, A-Rod, and more.

Joba to the DL.

The continuously gworing list of injured Yankees welcomed a new member on Thursday when shortly after 3 pm eastern time it was announced that the Yankees had placed Joba Chamberlin on the 15-Day DL with a strained right oblique.

GM Brain Cashman said that Joba showed up on Wednesday with a mild pain in his right side and was taken to team physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad to have a scan today. Cashman said that it's a "mild oblique strain" that Joba had suffered while warming up in the bullpen on Tuesday.

"Joba is a pretty miraculous healer, more so than anybody I've seen," Cashman said. "He does get hurt, but when he does, he usually bounces back pretty quick. At the very least, we're going to take the safe route to make sure that we can put it behind us."

As to who will replace Joba on the Yankees active roster is yet to be determind, but Cashman said that the team is weighing their option between Sam Demel, Preston Claiborne, and Mark Mongomery. Cashman also added that Clay Rapada and Chen Ming-Wang are not options.

"We're talking about a lot of different guys right now," Cashman said. "We haven't decided on what we're doing yet."

"We're going to keep plugging along," Cashman added. "This is a tough spot for Joba to have to take a time out for the next 14 days, but it's going to give somebody else an opportunity and somebody else a chance to find a way to help us win games.

"Somebody's bad news is somebody else's good news. Whoever draws that straw, hopefully he can come in here and continue the good times."

Robertson day to day.

David Robertson also paid a visit to Dr. Ahmad today after he felt some discomfort in his left knee following his 1-2-3 8th inning that he pitched on Wednesday.

"He's got a little bit of crankiness there behind the knee where the hamstring attaches, so he's just day to day," Cashman said. "He's not a DL situation."

A-Rod to start baseball activities.

Alex Rodriguez continues to recover from hip surgery this spring and today he announced on Facebook that he has been cleared by his doctors to resume baseball activities.

"Just met with my surgeon.....and got cleared to move to baseball activities in Tampa.....really excited to be getting closer to being back on the field."

Cashman said that A-Rod will begin his baseball activities on Monday, May 6th in Tampa. He also added that A-Rod is still on track to return "sometime after the all-star break."

"Every conversation we've had with the physical therapist is that he's exactly where he needs to be," Cashman said on Thursday. "He's on time, he's working hard. I've never heard anything about he's ahead of schedule or ahead of time."

A-Rod, along with Mark Teixeira will be joining Granderson in Tampa on Monday following the teams homestand that wraps up against the Athletics on Sunday.

Corbin Joseph optioned to Triple-A.

In order to make room on the active roster for newly acqiured Chris Nelson, the Yankees has optioned infilder Corbin Joseph back to Triple-A

To make room for Nelson on the 40-man roster, the Yankees placed catcher Francisco Cervelli (fractured right hand) on the 60-day disabled list.

Nelson, 27, hit .301 in 111 games for the Rockies last year, and he was hitting .242 (16-for-66) this season before the Rockies designated him for assignment on Sunday

Pineda making strides.

Cashman also said today that Michael Pineda pitched in an extended spring gameat the Yankees complex in Tampa today and was throw consistantly at 93 mph, but hit 95 mph. It was a "good physical day." Said Chasman.

For more Yankees news, as always you can follow @GavinEwbank2013 on Twitter.

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Yanks beat Astros, win the series.

Coming off a sweep of the Blue Jays, everybody but the Astros themselve thought it would be an easy series for the Yankees. Well, it wasn't. The Astros made it more difficult than most people thought as Houston outscored the Yankees 17-14 in three games.

"That's a good ballclub over there," Astros manager Bo Porter said. "They won the game, but at the same time, we played the game the way it's supposed to be played and put ourselves in position to have the opportunity to win, as well."

"They had some pretty good pitching out there in the late innings, so it's not as easy as it looks," Overbay said.

Making his 1st start of the season on Wednesday night, David Phelps was cruising through the first 3 innings on 34 pitches before he ran into trouble in the 4th, blowing a 4-0 Yankees lead to turn his night into something not so special.

The Yankees jumped out to their 4-0 lead quickly. Ichiro tripled to start the bottom of the 1st then was driven in but Jayson Nix a batter later. The Yankees coming into the game were 8-0 when scoring 1st and the Astros were 0-13 when the opposing team scored 1st.

Astros starter Erik Berdard walked the bases loaded to start the 2nd inning but the Yankees were only able to score 1 run on a Chris Stewart sac-fly.

Robinson Cano added a solo homerun in the 3rd inning. It was Cano's 8th homer of the season and it pushed the Yankees lead to 3-0. A couple batters later Ben Francisco, who had been struggling badly coming in, hit his 1st long ball of the season into the seats in left. Another solo shot, 4-0 Yankees.

That's were Phelps fell off the wagon. After striking out the leadoff hitter, the next 3 Astros collected hits. Including Carlos Pena who singled home Jose Altuve for the 1st run. Phelps hit back to back hitters with the bases loaded to bring home the 2nd run.

Phelps had begun to lose his control and fell for his pitches in the 4th inning. Brandon Barnes beat out a double play ball with the bases loaded and Matt Dominguez singled home 1 more run the put the Astros right back into the game, all tied at 4-4.

After the Astros batted around in the 4th inning, they were able to send 5 more hitters to the plate in the 5th but were unable to score off Phelps' loss of control. Fernando Martinez singled to lead off the 6th but Phelps was able to retire the next 2 hitters before being pulled.

Phelps went 5.2 innings, allowing 4 runs on 8 hits, while walking only 1, and striking out 5 on 87 pitches in his 1st start of the season.

"I threw all right. I'm really happy we won that game," Phelps said. "The fourth inning killed all the momentum we built up. I've got to do better than that."

Phelps was mad with himself after the game because he knew that he had a good chance to gain a legitimate shot at becoming the Yankees permanent 5th starter.

"It's one of the reason I'm really frustrated today, because I felt like I could have just really grabbed the reins and taken care of things," Phelps said. "But its baseball. Stuff happens, and you've just got to do better next time."

The Yankees took the lead in 6th inning when Ichiro grounded into a double play, Lyle Overbay made a heads up play by getting caught in a rundown which allowed Nunez to score from 3rd, before the out was made.

"As soon as he hit it, I knew it was soft enough to where I wasn't going to be able to get by him, so I just stopped and waited," Overbay said. "It was kind of a no-brainer."

Phelps handed to ball to the Yankees bullpen and it shined bright as it has all season. Boone Logan retired all four hitters he faced. David Robertson followed with a 1-2-3 8th. And Mariano picked up his 11th save of the season as the Yankees went on to win 5-4.

The Yankees will get an off day on Thursday before welcoming the Athletics to town on Friday for a 3-game set to finish off the homestand.

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The future is bright in the Bronx.

I never thought that I would see the day the Yankees stopped spending money. I didn't think they would ever take the "win with what we have" apporach. After just a few years ago when they spent a ton of money to acquire players like CC Sabathia, Mark Texiera, AJ Burnett, and Nick Swisher.

The homegrown core four of Jeter, Rivera, Pettitte, and Posada are almost gone. Posada has retired, Rivera is retiring at the end of the season, Pettitte will be be around maybe another year, and Jeter only has a few years left depending on how he recovers from his broken ankle.

With the Yankees front office staff pounding it into our brains that they aren't going to spend money like they use to and now must rely on the prospects coming soon, I figured that now would be a great time to learn the names of the players that will one day call the Bronx their home.

I'm not sure that I can say the next core four is somewhere out there. But I can say that there is talent to pay attention to. We've already seen some of the Yankees young guns make their way to the Bronx this season. Even though most of them are here as an injury replacement, I can't help but say that they've all played well.

David Phelps fought and battled all spring long. Phelps made the Opening Day roster and was originally penciled as the Yankees 5th starter to replace the then injured Phil Hughes. Hughes was rushed back by the Yankees before Phelps ever had a chance to step on the mound. Phelps went to the bullpen and didn't miss a beat. In 6 relief appearances out of the bullpen, Phelps had an ERA of 5.29, with 22 strikeouts in 17 innings. After the injury to Ivan Nova, Phelps will now get his chance to start for the Yankees Wednesday against the Astros.

Adam Warren has been working out of the Yankees bullpen this season as the 2nd long relief man behind Phelps. Though he hasn't gotten much work in the season, he's still shown to have what it takes to pitch. In only 4 games, Warren has totaled 10 innings and has allowed only 3 runs. He's a downhill thrower with an above average sinker and his three-quarters curve has a decent bite to go with the cutter-like slider that he'll mix in.

A man who figures to be catching both Phelps and Warren for years to come is Austin Romine. Praised highly for his defense, the Yankees have every right to beleive that he has the ability to handle any situation behing the plate. Romine is known as one who moves and recieves the ball well to go with his solid and accurate arm. His bat is a little ways behind his glove but there's always been hope that he'll develope average and power tools. With the injury to Cervelli, Romine will now have an excellent shot to show the Yankees that he's ready to play as an everyday big league catcher.

Along with Romine the Yankees have Gary Sanchez, their #1 ranked prospect and 35th in all of baseball. Just like former Yankees prospect Jesus Montero, Sanches is a catcher known mostly for his bat. He's got above-average raw power and an improving plate approach, which will give him the chance to be a great hitter. He's got a great arm behind the dish but lacks the ability to handle the major issues that come with being a big league catcher. He has made strides but needs to continue working on his recieving skills.

Mason Williams is number 2 on the Yankees prospect list and is 40th among the top 100. Williams is currently down in Single-A Tampa but he has the chance to be an elite-level player. He has some ability with the bat and a solid approach. Many believe that the power will come as he matures. He's got good range in center field with a good arm. All he needs to be that elite player is time and for his bat to develope a little more. He'll continue to grow on his path toward playing along side of Brett Gardner in the outfield a few years from now.

These are just some of the guys to name a few. I know that other teams are stacked with talent at every level and the Yankees aren't. But keep in mind that they don't need to be. The Yankees don't just have these yound guys, they've also got a handful of players to build around that are already in the Bronx. Cano, Gardner, Robertson, Chamberlin, and Nunez to name a few. Of course they're also going to spend money to get top level players, just not at every postion.

All I'm doing here is giving you a glimps into the future. And if the scouts are right, then I'm going to be pretty happt in the future.

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Astros pound Yanks in Opener.

They never said that it would be easy for the Yankees this season. They also forgot to mention that it wouldn't be easy to take care of business againt the Houston Astros even with Andy Pettitte on the mound.

That was the case Monday night as the Astros were able to jump on Pettitte early and often scoring 3 runs in the 1st inning, 2 in the 4th, and 5 in the 5th to to easily defeat the Yankees 9-1 in the Bronx.

It just wasn't Pettitte's night as he was able to get the first two hitters of the game out, but then ran into some trouble once the next 5 Astros hitter eached base, all with 2 outs.

Carlos Pena singled to right scoring Brandon Laird, then Carlos Corporan doubled to right plating 2 more runs to quickly push Houston's lead to 3-0.

Pettitte was able to settle down for the next 2 innings until in the 4th when Laird doubled over Vernon Wells in left to drive in 2 more runs increasing the Astros lead to 5-0.

After alloing two more hts to start the 5th inning, Girardi coulndn't handle it anymore as he pulled the 40-year old Pettitte to bring in the young righty Adam Warren.

Facing only one batter, arrn threw a wild pitch allowing a run to score form 3rd, then just a couple pitches later Corporan lined a 2-run homerun in to the right field stands pulling the Astros well ahead at 9-0.

Just an overall tough night for Pettitte as he allowed 7 runs over 4 1/ innings, surrendering a season high 10 hits, 1 walk, and 3 strikeouts. Warren wet 1 1/3 giving up 2 runs on 3 hits. And Vidal Nuno made his Major League debut tonight as he went 3 shutout inning while only allowing 4 hits.

The only Yankee run of the night was in the 6th when Vernon Wells blooped a ball into left field scoring Brett Gardner to put the Yankees on the board for the only time Monday night.

The Yankees had a tough time hitting the ball to night as it showed on the scoreboard ad just couldn't get anything going against Lucus Harrell as e tossed 6 1/3 inning, allowig only 1 run on 8 hits. Harrell as able to indu 10 groundball outs from the Yankees without 1 flyball.

Houston's bullpen was able to shutdown the Yankees offense for the other 2 2/3 innings, as it didn't allow a single hit.

Kevin Youkilis was once againout of the Yankees lineup after undergoing an MRI on Mondy that later cme back negaive, though he will get an epidual. The Yankees are still discussing whether or not t place Youk on the DL.

These two teams will be right back at it on Tuesday with Hiroki Kuroda and Philip Humber squaring off at 7:05 ET.

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Astros stop in the Bronx.

After sweeping their division foe Toronto Blue Jays in 4 games over the weekend, the Yankees now have a perfect chance to add to that win streak with the Houston Astros coming to town for a 3 game set starting Monday night.

The Yankees played the comeback card in all four games against the Jays over the weekend. After Travis Hafners game winning RBI triple in the 7th inning of Saturday's game, Lyle Overbay came thought with a 2-run homerun off R.A. Dickey in the 7th inning of Sundays game.

The Yankees lost 2 more players due to injury on Friday. Francisco Cervelli fractured for right hand after a foul ball drill him. Cervelli underwent surgery on Saturday and is expected to miss at least 6 weeks.

Ivan Nova left in the 3rd inning of Friday's game with what an MRI later revealed to be inflammation in his right elbow. Nova has been place on the DL and David Phelps is expected to start in his place on Wednesday.

The Astros are finishing their 7 game road trip in the Bronx. They are coming in after being swept by the Red Sox in 4 games in which they gave up at least 6 runs in all four games. For a team that strikes out a lot, the Yankees pitchers will have a dandy time facing such a low contact team.

Probable starters:

Mon: Harrell vs Pettitte
Tues: Humber vs Kuroda
Wed: Berdard vs Phelps

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Overbays late blast gives Yanks the win.

As they have so often this year, it seems that even when trailing late in the game, the Yankees find a way to win. That was the case again on Sunday as the Yankees were able to sweep the Blue Jays thanks to Lyle Overbay's 7th inning blast.

Phil Hughes was coming off an impressive start in Tampa and he continued to add to that momentum by striking out 9 Jays hitters over 6 innings, giving up only 2 runs on 7 hits, while only walking 1. Hughes had some of his best stuff early. His slider was working well and he was able to get the fastball by a lot of hitters.

Toronto scored their 1st run off Hughes in the 4th inning. After back to back two out singles, Adam Lind singled a soft chopper up the middle to score Melky Cabrera and tie the game at 1-1. The Jays were able to pull aead in the 6th inning after another 2-out hit. This time a double to right off the bat of Maicer Izuris, plating Jose Bautista.

The Yankees weren't able to get much offense going off R.A. Dickey, only a solo homerun by Brennan Boesch in the 2nd was able to happen until the 7th inning when trailing 2-1, after a Travis Hafner single, Lyle Overbay was able to take Dickey deep in to the Yankees bullpen to pull them head 3-2.

"We didn't have a lot [of success against him]," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said of the reigning Cy Young winner. "We had four hits and two of them were homers, that's what helped. It's tough, because you're used to seeing guys throwing in the 90s, and all the sudden, you're trying to hit a butterfly, so it becomes very difficult."

"It's tough to center a ball on him, and we were able to really only get three or four on him today, and fortunately, two of them were home runs."

Boone Logan, David Robertson, and Mariano Rivera shutdown the Blue Jays in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings to seal the Yankees 3-2 victory and a 4 game sweep of their division foe. Rivera picked up his 9th save of the year, and the Yankees improved to 15-9.

All 3 Yankee runs were contibuted by some of the guys that the Yankees had aquired late in spring training.
"We knew what these guys could do, whether it's Hafner or Overbay or Wells," said Hughes. "Guys who have experience in this league and good hitters, that's the bottom line. So we felt like if we pitched well, we were going to get contributions from somebody and that's been the case early on."

Kevin Youkilis was once again not in the Yankees lineup after he felt the tightness in his back return. Girardi said that he'll see team doctors and they haven't yet ruled out havin some tests such as an MRI. If the Yankees were to put him on the DL they wouldn't be able to retro-active to return date due to being in the lineup on Saturday.

Brett Gardner as also not in the starting lineup. It wasn't known as to why he wasn't starting. But we can assure that it wasn't injury related as Gardner entered to game in the 8th inning as a defensive replacement for Brennan Boesch.

Now on a 4 game winning streak, the Yankeeswill greet the Houston Astros to the Bronx for a 3 game series starting on Monday. The starting pitches for game 1 will be Lucas Harrell and Andy Pettitte facing off at 7:05 ET.

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Hafner's big day backs Sabathia.

Looking to rebound from a sluggish start in his last outing against the Rays, CC Sabathia was able to battle for 8 strong innings, to be back by a resilient Yankees offense and earn his 4th victory of the year, Saturday at Yankee stadium.

Sabathia was far from having his best stuff on the mound as he surrendered a season high, 9 hits to a very tough Blue Jays lineup. Sabathia gave up 3 runs early after a 12 pitch 1st inning, allowed an RBI groundout by Rajai Davis in the 3rd inning. Then Toronto added anther run in the 4th when Jose Bautista took Sabathia deep for his 2nd homerun in as many days.

Ben Francisco is usually booked as the Yankees DH against lefty pitchers, but Girardi decided to play Travis Hafner today against Blue Jays starter J.A. Happ. Down 3-0 in the 4th, Hafner blasted a 3-run homerun into the Yankees bullpen. It was Hafner's 6th of the season and it tied he game at 3-3.

But Brett Lowrie took the lead right back for Toronto in the 6th inning when he connected for his 2nd homerun of the season off Sabathia.

The Yankees once again showed a late fight as they have so much this season. "They've been resilient," Girardi said. "There's no doubt about it. They've found ways to come back."

It all started when Vernon Wells singled home Robinson Cano after he doubled with 1-out in the 7th. A batter later, Hafner shot a triple off the wall in center fileld to drive in Wells, and give the Yankees a 5-4 lead.

"I don't really have a rhyme or reason for it," Girardi said for the re-emergence of Hafner and Wells. "I think that this is a great place to play. It's a great clubhouse to be in, it's a great atmosphere to come into every night, whether you're home or on the road, and there's an expectation here. I think a lot of guys feed off that."

That was just enough support for Sabathia to head back to the mound in the 8th and finish off his day strong after tossing 8th ininngs of allowing 4 runs (3 earned), on 9 hits, with 4 strikeouts, and not a single walk from Sabathia on 112 pitches.

Girardi wouldn't allow Mariano Rivera to pitch a 3rd straight day, so insted he sent out Joba to attempt his 1st save since 2010. Toronto was able to get a couple runners on, but Joba got Melky Cabrera to groundout to 3rd to end the game. Giving Sabathia his 4th April victory for the 1st time in his career.

"That's fun for me, seeing the energy of the crowd and my teammates, and knowing this is the last go at it," said Chamberlain, who recorded his first save since Sept. 21, 2010. "I love that. That's something that I play for, the energy. I can't help but smile, because that's why you play the game. I'm excited to get that opportunity."

Backed by Travis Hafner's 4 RBI game, the Yankees are now 14-9 in a season filled with injuries to so many of their key players. They will go for the sweep of the Blue Jays on Sunday, with two pitchers in need a of a win as R.A Dickey faces Phil Hughes at 1:07 ET.

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What's Cano worth?

In the midst of a Cano contract year, Robinson Cano has been put with the pressure to carry an injury riddled Yankees lineup. His numbers throught the first month of the season have only showed-off Cano as the player the Yankees wanted him to be. Putting together on of the best starts to season in his career, Cano is presenting a great case to the Yankees for them to pay him what he wants. So, how much should he get?

New agency:

Just a couple weeks ago Cano, who was originally represented by Scott Boris as his agent, made the switch to sign with Roc Nation. A company that was founded for would renouned rapper, part owner of the Brooklyn Nets, and of course a big time Yankees fan in Jay-Z. Thought the business side of things will be led by CAA Sports' Brodie Van Wagenen.

This news came as a big to surprise to just about everyone in the baseball world as Cano left Scott, who is regarded as the biggest and best agent in the game of baseball. Now with Jay-Z, it would seem much more likely that Cano will stay in New York for years to come. We all know that Jay-Z is huge Yankes fan and he certainly wouldn't want to see one of the teams best player leave New York. Of course you can assmue that he's going to do everything he can to make sure that Cano stays in New York, all while getting the most money for his all-star client.

Broken promise:

Throughtout the offseason the Yankees made the promise the they were focused of cutting the teams payroll to get under $189 million by the 2014 season. With the payroll lowering in mind, the Yankees were hoping that they could convince Cano to take a hometown pay-cut, in order to get a deal done. That was something that Cano said he wasn't going to do.

Now according to reports, that $189M payroll is not going to happen. As much as the Yankees wanted to hit the $189M mark, it seems that if these reports are true and New York is just going to for get the plan that had stuck to so tightly, it would seem that Cano after might just get the deal he wants. Even if the Yankees don't want to give it to him

What's the Price?

Cano is 30-years old. Any deal that the Yankees give him, likely won't exceed 8 years. If I had to make a guess, which I am. I would say the length of the potential contract will end up somewhere around the 6-8 year range. That's fair. The Yankees are seeing first hand, to what's happening with their aging stars and certainly hope they won't have to go through this with Cano.

The price is a whole different story. Like I said, Cano is currently have a great season and it will only get better. He's not showed any negative play in his career and many could argue that he's currently the best hitter in the game. Everything he does is done in a smooth, calm, and effortless way but it still makes him an all-star. Now as far as the price tag I would put on him, I can easily go as low as $25 million a year. A number around what guys like Albrt Pujols and Josh Hamilton are making.

But as far as I know, there haven't been many contract talks between him and the Yankees lately. there might not be anything seious until the season ends. So we might just have to wait until then. But when he does sign, with whom ever he signs with. I can only imagine that Robinson Cano will make himself one of the highest paid players in the game.

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Yankees lose big in win over Jays.

Regardless of what the scoreboard says, the Yankees lost in a big way on Friday night at Yankee Stadium as both catcher Fancisco Cervelli and starting pitcher Ivan Nova left the game due to injuries in the Yankees 6-4 win over the Blue Jays.

Cervelli left just 5 pitches into the game after a foul ball off the bat of Rajai Davis caught Cervelli on the knuckles of his right hand, forcing Girardi to pull him from the game. The Yankees later learned of the news that he had fractured his right hand. Cervelli will need surgry to repair, and he's expected to miss at least 6 weeks.

"Its disappointing. I know it's really disappointing for him because of all that he's been through to get to this point," Girardi said. "My heart goes out to him." He added. " It's going to make him stronger, and it's going to make him better. He's going to have to wait a little while to play, but we'll get him back."

With Chris Stewart as the new catcher, the game went on. It wen on until the 3rd inning when disaster struck again for the Yankees, after Nova had to leave the game throwing only 54 pitches. Nova left with so pain in his right throwing elbow and will undergo an MRI Friday night, as we await the results.

"He talked about it a little bit after the second inning and said he wanted to go back out there and try," Girardi said. "We saw the first two hitters in the third and just decided. We went out there and asked him, and he said he wasn't OK."

David Phelps came on in relief of Nova and after allowing a run, he settled in nicely to strikeout 9 Jays hitters over 4 four innings. If Nova has anything that will land him on the DL, then Phelps made a very good case for himself to replace Nova in the rotation as he was on his game tonight.

"My last two outings have both been on his day," Phelps said. "I was at [77] pitches today. It's not my decision, but if that's what they want me to do, I think I can do it."

With the score tied in the 4th inning, Lyle Overbay as ableto triple home Eduardo Nunez off of Brad Lincon to pull the Yankees ahead 3-2. Overay scored a batter later on a wild pitch to Travis Hafner.

The Yankees bullpen in all pitched great tonight, as the only bad marks to the box score were solo homeruns by Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion, who had 2 long balls in tonights game.

Ahead only 5-4 in the 8th, Brett Gardner launched his 3rd homerun of the year into the seats in right field, to give Mariano Rivera a 2-run cushion heading into the 9th.

Pitching for the 2nd conscutive game, the Jays were able to load the bases with 3 hits, all being singles off Rivera. Before he was able to escape the dager unharmed, by strikingot Colby Rasmus swinging to end the game. Rivera picked his 8th save of the year and theYankees picked up their 13th win.

Game 3 of the series will take place Saturdy afternoon at Yankee Stadium, with CC Sabathia facing J.A. Happ at 4:05 ET.

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Cervelli and Nova leave with injuries.

Things went from bad to worse on Friday when 5 pitches into the game, catcher Francisco Cervelli was struck on his right (throwing arm) hand by a foul ball off the bat from Rajai Davis. Cervelli was forced to leave the game, with Girardi making the switch to bring in Chris Stewart.

Cervelli suffered a fracture in his right hand and will require surgery. He is expected to miss at least 6 weeks. It's a tough break for such a hard worker in Cervelli. He had missed the WBC in order the win a starting job with the Yankees. He had started off great for the Yankees early on, with the bat and certainly behind the plate.

Yankees Triple-A catcher Austin Romine is expected to be brought up as Cervellis replacement. He was pulled mid-inning in tonights game in Triple-A. Chris Stewart will presumably take over the role as the Yankees starting catcher.

Things got worse in the 3rd inning after Rajai Davis singled up the middle off Ivan Nova, causing Girardi and the Yankees trainer to come out to check on the young pitcher. After just a couple seconds of discussion Nova was pulled from the game after throwing only 54 pitches. David Phelps has entered the game as his relief.

It's been recently learned that Nova left the game with pain in his right elbow. He will undergo an MRI tonight as we can expect some final results soon. But the question will raise as to who would take his spot in the rotation should he need to be placed on the DL. It would seem most likely that David Phelps would take over, or maybe even Chen Ming-Wang who's currently down in Triple-A. But after only 2 starts it might be unlikely to see Wang just yet.

All these injuries coming at the worst time for the Yankees as they are suppose to make a decision on Saturday whether or not they should place Kevin Youkilis on the DL after missing the last 6 games with a back injury.

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What to do when Grandy returns.

We're only a few days way from May 1st as April starts to close. The excitment that Yankee are feeling is that when May rolls around, we're going to get some of our stars back. But what's going to happen when they do. Who's getting cut and who's moving to the bench?

Well first, let's just get this out of the way and say that when Teixeria returns, there's no doubt that he'll resume his duties as the starting first baseman, hitting 3rd or 4th in the lineup. Which in the end, will likey leave Lyle Overbay at the odd man out on the Yankees bench making it very possible that he won't stick around for long when Tex returns.

The biggest questions lie in the outfield. As it stands, the Yankees starting outfield lines up with Vernon Wells, Brett Gardner, and Ichiro Suzuki. So heres the big question, who get's the boot in the outfield? First, we can say it's likley wont be Gardner. The Yankees need his speed at the top of the lineup and considering the age of Wells and Ichrio, Gardner is a better defensive option.

Vernon Wells in my opinion like Gardner won't be benched. Wells is having a good season early on and the Yankees certainly would wouldn't want to take him out of the lineup. He's a gold glove left fielder and has also been showing to be useful in the outfield with his glove, after making several nice plays this season.

So that leaves us with Ichiro. Some people might be thinking, "No, not Ichiro!". Well it might have to happen. Off to a sluggish start, it wouldn't hurt at all to move to 40-year old Ichiro to the bench. He wouldn't missed in the lineup as much as Wells or Gardner, but he would leave his gold gloves on the field.

Yet in the end, non the these guys would even have to leave the starting lineup. The DH role is a likely spot for maybe a guy like Vernon Wells. Ben Francisco is currently the DH against righties and we all know theres no way he stays around once Granderson returns. You can move Gardner to left, Grandy in center, and Ichiro will stay in right. Wells will DH then play in the outfield in order to bench Ichiro against lefties.

But then what happens to Travis Hafner? I thought he was the DH against right handed pitchers, you might say. Well thats when Girardi makes the deciscion to go with the hot hand. Platoon them at DH and just play the hottest hitter. Simple.

We can agree to disagree. If you can agree mith my views, then share this story. If you don't agree, then tell me on twitter, @GavinEwbank2013. Until next time, Go Yankees!

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Rough start, good finish for Kuroda.

The trend of bad 1st innings from a Yankees starting pitcher continued on Thursday after a 2-out walk to Jose Bautista led to a Edwin Encarnacion HR to give the Blue Jays an early 2-0 lead.

Brett Lowrie added to that score in the 2nd with a solo homerun to the short porch in right, to pull ahead 3-0 for Mark Burehle.

Burehle was working well until the 2nd inning when Vernon Wells shot a deep flyball into monument park, putting the Yankees on the board, 3-1.

Next inning with two on base Robinson Cano blasted his 7th homer of the season, pulling the Yankees ahead 4-3. Francisco Cervelli added another solo homerun an inning later.

That run support was all the Hiroki Kuroda need after he rebounded from a shaky first couple of innings, the go 6 strong, allowing 3 runs on 6 hits, 1 walk, and 3 strikeouts.

"This might just be his best performance of the season." Said Joe Girardi. Even without any of his pitches, Kuroda found away to shut down the Jays and make outs.

After surrendering 6 hits in the 1st two innings, the Blue Jays were unable to get a hit off Kuroda while he had retired 14 of the last 15 batters he faced.

"Considering how it started," Kuroda said, "I think I was able to put together a decent outing."

Kuroda's counterpart Burehle went 5.1 innings, surrendering 5 runs on 7 hits, while striking out 3. He's now 0-2 against the Yankees this season.

The Yankees bullpen made easy work of the Blue Jays. With Joba, Robertson, and Mariano Rivera tossing 3 scoreless innings, allowing only 1 combined hit, sealing a 5-3 Yankees win.

The win makes the Yankees 3-1 against the struggling Blue Jays this season. Game 2 of this series will take place tomorrow night in the Bronx with Ivan Nova and Josh Johnson facing off at 7:05 ET.

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Jeter assures that he'll return.

Derek Jeter is back in New York for the Yankees ucoming homestand and today he spoke to the media for the 1st time since news that a new crack in his ankel would likely keep him out until the all-star break.

Jeter gave no doubts that he will return and when he does, be back to the best of his abilities as starting shortstop for the New York Yankees. The only problem is that Jeter never said when it is that he will return. "I'm not giving a timeline. Last timeline I set I didn't make."

He of course is talking about the opening day return date which he set and couldn't meet. Jeter said he's not sure about when or what cause the new crack, but if he had to guess he would say sometime around March 16 against the Phillies. Jeter said he felf discomfort around that time and it never went away.

"It's frustrating" he said. "It's been a difficult process, it's been a frustrating prcess." He said that he's spent so much time in the training room over the past few week going throught rehab and physical therapy that he was happy to be out for the 1st time in a while.

When asked about how he feels not being able to play he said, "I don't like to miss games, I like to play." As for the games that he doesn't play, he said he hasn't watched many games. Jeter said he doesn't have the MLB package at his house and he doesn't get any of the games on YES.

As captain and leader of the Yankees, he also said that doesn't like to be away from the team. He wants be to around with them. But as far as his ankel goes, he'll continue to recive treatment and he hasn't doubet one bit that he will return healthy and ready to go.

Jeter had a message to all the Yankees fans out there, saying, "I'll be back soon." That's certainly something you oul want to hear in such an diffiult andtime consuming situation.

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Back to the Bronx.

Returning home after a 6 game road trip, the Yankees will welcome the Toronto Blue Jays to the Bronx for their first visit of the season.

Andy Pettitte's 10 strikeouts weren't enough on Wednesday night, as Alex Cobb surrendered only 4 Yankee hits in the 3-0 Rays win. The lose put the Yankees at 3-3 on the road trip.

Hiroki Kuroda will be the man to greet the Blue Jays at the door when he takes the mound on Thursday in the 1st game of a 4 game set. Kuroda shut down the Jays in his last start in Toronto.

Offense was an issue in Tampa as the Yankees were only able to cross the plate 5 times in the series. Kevin Youkilis is expected to rejoin the lineup after missing 4 straight games due to back problems.

Also expected to be in New York, is Derek Jeter. Brian Cashman said that Jeter will be in the Bronx when the teamed returned. His is in a walking boot and will talk to the media later today.

Probable pitchers:

Thur: Kuroda vs Burehle
Fri: Nova vs Johnson
Sat: Sabathia vs Happ
Sun: Hughes vs Dickey

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Yankees eye series win.

Wednesday night in Tampa, the Yankees will attempt capture to series against Alex Cobb and the Rays. Should they win it would be their 5th consecutive series win, dating back to the Indians.

After losing game 1 of the series 5-1, the Yankees rallied back from an early 1-0 hole that was caused by a 32 pitch 1st inning from Phil Hughes.

Andy Pettitte will take the mound for the Yankees as he will try to break the streak of bad 1st innings from a Yankee starter. Both Sabathia and Hughes threw at least 30 pitches in the opening frame, surrendering a total of 5 runs.

Kevin Youkilis won't be in tonight's lineup for the 4th straight game as he continues to nurse his back after experiencing more tightness Monday during BP.

Girardi told reports Tuesday that Youkilis wouldn't play again until Thursday when the Yankees return back to the Bronx to open up a series against the Blue Jays.

Tonights pitching matchup:

Pettitte (3-0, 2.01) vs Cobb (2-1, 2.58)

Tonights lineup:

Gardner 8
Ichiro 7
Cano 4
Hafner DH
Cervelli 2
Overbay 3
Nunez 6
Boesch 9
Nix 5

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Sabathia delivers another shaky 1st.

In his first 28 innings this season CC Sabathia only surrendered 1 homerun. Monday night in Tampa the Rays managed to take Sabathia deep, 3 times in the first 3 innings. Two of which, came off the bat of Ryan Roberts.

Sabathia once against battled his 1st innings control and an unusually low velocity when the Rays were able to tally 4 first innings runs off the big Yankee left hander.

Tampa sent 7 hitters to the plate in the 20-pitch 1st. Ryan Roberts and Yunel Escobar each hit homers and Roberts added another solo shot later in the 3rd.

Sabathia settled down to allow only one run in the next 6 innings, finishing his night with a line of: 7 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 8 K. 104 pitches, 68 strikes.

Something that Yankees fans should be concerned about, Sabathia didn't look like his normal self. Watching him between innings, you could see him continuously clutching his left hand as if something was wrong. So well keep an eye on that.

His velocity again wasn't what he and the Yankees are hoping for. Mostly in the high 80's, CC was able to touch as high as 91 at several points throughout the night.

The Yankees weren't able to support Sabathia with any runs of their own while Matt Moore was absolutely dominant. Tossing 8 innings of one run ball, with 9 K, 2 H, and 3 BB. Moore's outstanding effort improved him to 4-0 on the year.

New York's only run came in the 4th, via the long ball by Robinson Cano. A no doubt shot for his team leading 6th homerun of the year.

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Youkilis scratched from the lineup.

After returning to the lineup from a rest day with back tightness Kevin Youkilis has been scratched from the staring lineup for Mondays game in Tampa.

Youkilis experienced more tightness in his lower back during batting practice today, forcing tonight 1st baseman out of tonights lineup. Lyle Overbay will now take the field in Youks place.

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