Cano Leaves All-Star Game After Hit By Pitch

Well, it only took about 10 minutes for the night's of Yankees fans to be ruined everywhere.

In his his first at-bat against National League starter Matt Harvey, Robinson Cano, starting second baseman for the American League, was hit on the right knee by a 96-mph fastball thrown by Harvey.

After AL manager Jim Leyland and trainers came out to talk to Cano, he decided to stay in the game, but left moment later after Miguel Cabrera struck out for the first out of the first inning.

As Cano walked off the field, he passed by the mound with Harvey patting his chest, saying "My bad" to Cano. Cano gave Harvey a wink and carried on to the clubhouse.

“I said, ‘No problem,' ” Cano said. “I know he don't want to hit nobody.

“There's nothing you can do.”

He was examined by Mets team doctors, who diagnosed him with a right quad contusion. X-Rays also came back negative and Cano hopes he'll be good to go when the Yankees start a series against the Red Sox on Friday.

"Yeah, I'll be good for Friday," Cano said.

This is the absolute worst possible thing for the Yankees as they get set to face to Boston Red Sox once the second half of play begins on Friday. If Cano is forced to miss any, and I mean any extended period of time, it would destroy the Yankees already weak lineup.

Cano has not missed a single this season, having played in all 95 of the Yankees games. He's batting .302 with 21 homeruns and 65 RBI's as the only All-Star in the lineup.

Dustin Pedroia of the Boston Red Sox entered the game as a pinch-runner to replace Cano and stayed in the game at second base.

"Of course you are," Cano said of being disappointed about his early exit. "You want to play the game and enjoy the nice city in New York with the fans, but that's part of life. Got to get it better and take it easy."

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Kuroda Should Be An All-Star

Assuming there aren't any last minute roster changes, the All-Star Game rosters are set and ready to go for Tuesday's game at Citi field. Robinson Cano and Mariano Rivera will be representing the Yankees, but there's one deserving player that won't be joining them: Hiroki Kuroda.

Kuroda has been the Yankees most consistent starter this season and for the most part, he's been the overall ace of the staff.

His 8-6 record might not look very all-star worthy, but in at least half of his six losses, he's pitched well enough to get the win. The only thing stopping him from that is the poor run support he's been given lately.

When it was announced early Sunday morning that American League manager Jim Leyland would name three replacement pitcher to the all-star roster, I thought for sure that Kuroda would have a great chance being named to the team.

But sadly, Leyland decided that Chris Tillman would give him a better chance to win the game. Grant Balfour and Greg Holland were also named to the team, but I have no problem with that because both were deserving players.

As far as Kuroda's stats go, there isn't anything that tells me shouldn't be pitching Tuesday night.

Kuroda's 2.65 ERA ranks second behind only Felix Hernandez's 2.53. His .227 opponents batting average against is good enough for 7th in the American League, and his 1.05 WHIP ranks him 5th. Clearly there's nothing in the numbers that suggest he's not an all-star.

While the Yankees may have plenty of all-stars on the DL this season, there will still be two Yankees playing at Citi Field on Tuesday. But when it comes down to who else should be there, Hiroki Kuroda is on the top of that list.

Question: Do you think Hiroki Kuroda should be an all-star?

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Yanks Lose In A Very Sloppy First-Half Finale

It's been an up and down first half for the Yankees, from the hot start to the sluggish past month. No player on the Yankees has had a more up and down year than CC Sabathia. After back to back solid starts, CC was looking to finish off the first half of the season in style.

Things just didn't go Sabathia's way as he endured one of the worst starts of his season, giving up eight runs, three earned, on eight hits while walking two and striking out five in only four innings. It was the shortest non-injury or rain shortened outing for CC as a Yankee since lasting only 2 2/3 against the Rays on Oct. 2nd, 2009.

"I have to make better pitches to try to help these guys out," said Sabathia. "They've bailed me out of situations all the time. It's frustrating because you didn't help these guys out."

Sabathia started the game with an easy 1-2-3 first inning, but then Minnesota cracked the code in the second, using four hits, all singles, to tag CC with a pair of runs.

After a Justin Morneau double in the third inning, he advanced to third on a Eduardo Nunez throw that pulled Lyle Overbay off the bag at first, that would have ended the inning. Instead, the next batter, Aaron Hicks, took a changeup from Sabathia and put it into the seat in left to make it a 5-0 game.

Things only got worse for the Yankees, trailing 5-1 after an RBI single by Cano in the top half of the inning, Brian Dozier doubled on a ball that bounced past Ichiro and Vernon Wells in right-center field. After Joe Mauer walked to load the bases, Morneau pitted a ball in between a pack of infielders that would fail to make a play.

"It's unusual," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "Our defense has been really good this year. For whatever reason, it wasn't today. We made some mistakes and gave them extra outs, and it cost us."

The Twins scored two more runs in the inning on a missed ball by Overbay, prompting Girardi to take Sabathia out of the game after four inning with his pitch count reaching 93.

"This wasn't [good]. It's just one game, though, and we've got four days to kind of get away from it and kind of revive everything," Overbay said.

Girardi gave the ball to Preston Clairborne, who fired off a solid 1-2-3 fifth inning, striking out two of the three batters he faced. Adam Warren followed him with two innings of one-run relief, holding the Twins to only four hits.

The Yankees bats didn't do a whole lot to put them into a position to win, managing three runs through the first four innings off of Twins starter Kyle Gibson, who allowed three runs, two earned, on five hits over five inning of work.

Ichiro broke a long Yankee drought in the 7th inning, homering to right field off of Caleb Thielbar. It was the first homerun by a Yankee not named Cano or Overbay since June 26th. His solo shot pulled the Yankee back within four, making it 8-4.

Minnesota added another run in the 8th off Warren, then Girardi went to Boone Logan, who did a good job of setting down Mauer and Morneau to end the inning.

Yet with all the good the Yankees bullpen was doing, they still couldn't pull off anything offensively, losing to the Twins 10-4 in a very sloppy game from the Yankees. There may have only been two errors on the board, but overall it wasn't a good way to head into the All-Star break.

"It was just one of those games where everything we could do wrong, we did wrong, defensively," Wells said. "That was probably one of the uglier games seen in this stadium, for sure."

With Minnesota taking two of the three games in this series, the Twins walked out of the Bronx with a very well series win against the Yankees, who have now lost five of their last eight games.

"Losing is disappointing, no matter how you do it," Wells said. "The way this game played out, with just how ugly it was, it'll be good to quickly forget about."

The Yankees finished the first half of the season at 51-44, trailing the Red Sox in the AL East by 6.5 games, who the Yankees will meet in Boston to start a three-game series on Friday to open up the second half.

"I think everybody in here knows what we're up against and what we need to do to try to make the playoffs and win this division," Sabathia said. "It's just up to us to come out and play consistent and play the way we can play."

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Yanks Look For Final First-Half Win

The bats were quiet on Saturday,touching home plate only once, coming in the first inning, against the Twins and Samuel Deduno. Phil Hughes struck out 10, but come out on the losing end because of a trio homeruns he allowed on the day.

Now on the final day of the first half of the 2013 season, CC Sabathia will take the mound for the Yankees as they look to claim one more victory before setting off for the all-star break.

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

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

Pitching Preview:

The last time CC Sabathia took the mound against the Minnesota Twins, he gave up two runs on seven hit, while walking three and striking out nine over seven innings of work to earn the 200th victory of his career.

Sabathia dominated his last start, but was once again a victim of poor run support, taking the loss against the Royals after tossing the complete nine innings while allowing just three runs on seven hits.

The Twins will send out rookie Kyle Gibson to take the mound against the Yankees for the second time this season, after taking the loss on a July 4th meeting in which the Yankees won.

Gibson gave up eight runs on 11 hits and one walk in only 5 1/3 innings pitched back on Independence Day, and he holds a 1-2 record with a 7.27 ERA through first three big league starts.

Yankee Notes:

* Travis Ishikawa elected to become a free-agent in lieu of taking a trip to Triple-A to play with the Scranton/Wilkes-Berre RailRiders. Ishikawa played one game with the Yankees, going 0-for-2 with a pair of strikeouts against the Royals last Monday.

* When the Yankees resume play for the second half of the season, the begin road trip that starts in Boston for a three-game set on Friday. The Yankees have set their rotation for that series: Friday for Pettitte, Kuroda on Saturday and CC on Sunday.

* Alex Rodriguez will make the trip north to join the Trenton Thunder this week for a three-game series against the Reading Phillies. As for today, he'll be batting 2nd, serving as the DH for the Tampa Yankees in his 8th rehab game.

* American League All-Star Game manager Jim Leyland said that he'll be naming three replacement pitchers on Sunday, meaning that there's still a chance Hiroki Kuroda will be at Citi Field on Tuesday.

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Ten Strikeouts Not Enough For Hughes To Beat The Twins

The Yankees have done nothing but own the Twins this season, coming into Saturday's 5-0 against Minnesota. Looking to extend the streak, Joe Girardi gave the ball to Phil Hughes, who had been pitching pretty well lately.

On Military Appreciation Day at Yankee Stadium, the Twins used a trio of homeruns served up by Hughes to come away with a 4-1 victory, their first against the Bombers this season.

Hughes had it going on for him early, picking up five strikeouts through the first two innings. But while he was still throwing the ball well, it was only a few little mistakes that really hurt Hughes.

"I thought it was some of the better stuff that he had all year long," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "His offspeed was really effective. He had the 10 strikeouts. I thought he threw the ball exceptionally well except for a few mistakes."

Robinson Cano gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a single up the middle the ricocheted off the foot of Twins starter Samuel Deduno, finding it's way into center field to score Ichiro from second.

Hughes gave the run back in the second inning when Trevor Plouffe took him deep to left field, his 10th home run of the season, to tie the game at 1-1.

After the Plouffe homerun, Hughes found a rhythm, keeping Minnesota out of the hit column up until the 7th inning when Ryan Doumit made him pay again, taking Hughes deep to right field to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.

With Hughes still pitching in the 8th, Aaron Hicks dropped down a bunt to the third base side, beating it out to begin the inning. After Clay Thomas was called out for base runner interference, Pedro Florimon took a 2-2 pitch from Hughes deep the right to put Minnesota up 4-1.

Hughes matched a career-high with 10 strikeouts, giving up four on five hits, three of which were homeruns, while walking just one on 108 pitches.

"It's been frustrating," Hughes said. "I guess the one thing I can say is, I've felt good with my stuff over the last three or four starts. After the All-Star break, that's something I can continue to build on."

Hughes, known as a fly ball pitcher, has allowed 18 homeruns this season, ranking second on the ballclub behind only CC Sabathia, who has given up 20 long ball this season.

"As a straight fastball, four-seam guy, if I miss up in the zone, a lot of times it's hard-hit fly balls," Hughes said. "That's just part of who I am, so I have to really concentrate on locating and not leaving balls over the middle of the plate."

Although not all of the blame can be put on Hughes as the Yankees bats gave him nothing in support other than the first inning run. The offense managed eight hits, but only Cano's hit in the first came to be important.

"It's just a matter of finding a way to get things going," Lyle Overbay said. "We're definitely not going to hit the home runs, and we can't wait for the three-run homer and all that stuff, but we can do other things. We have that kind of team in here. It's a matter of going out and doing it."

Twins starter Samuel Deduno also had a lot to do with keeping the Yankees' bats quiet throughout the afternoon, giving up just four hits and three walks after permitting the two hits and a run in the first inning.

"He's got some funky movement on his ball," Yankees catcher Austin Romine said. "His ball cuts, and he mixed in his curveball to keep us off balance."

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Yanks Go For 4th Straight Win With Hughes On The Mound

It took much longer to get it done, but the Yankees walked out of Friday's game with a 2-0 win over the Minnesota Twins. Rain was an issue all night long, causing a hour and 13 minute rain delay in the 4th inning, but once play resumed, the Yankees were able to put a pair of runs on the board and held on for the win.

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

Gardner CF
Suzuki RF
Cano 2B
Wells DH
Overbay 1B
Almonte LF
Cruz SS
Gonzalez 3B
Romine C
Hughes P

Pitching Preview:

Phil Hughes dealt with the weather in his last start, leaving the game after the 4th inning because of a one-hour rain delay. Manager Joe Girardi removed Hughes from the game because he didn't feel comfortable with putting him bringing him back out after the long delay.

Though his outing was cut short, he still allowed two runs in four innings to the Royals. He's already faced the Twins this season, holding them to one run on six hits over seven innings in a July 2nd meeting in Minnesota.

For the second time this season, he'll be facing off against right-hander Samuel Deduno. Deduno took the loss for the second straight outing, Monday at Tampa Bay, allowing five runs on 10 hits, while walking two over six innings.

When facing the Yankees on July 2nd, he pitched well enough to earn the victory, allowing just three runs on five hits over six innings, but the Twins bullpen couldn't hold on for him.

Yankee Notes:

* Alex Rodriguez met with MLB investigators Friday to talk about his involvement with the Miami Biogenesis clinic. He was also suppose to play a rehab game with the Single-A Tampa Yankees on Friday, but it was rained out.

* Travis Hafner is still not in the lineup after taking a ball off his foot while taking batting practice prior to Wednesday's game against the Royals. Hafner is listed as day-to-day.

* Jayson Nix will head to Tampa on Monday to begin the next phase of his rehab. It's unclear if he'll return from the DL after the All-Star break when he becomes eligible to come off.

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Kuroda Takes The Mound In Final First-Half Start

A day after the return of Derek Jeter, the Yankees will welcome the Twins into town for the second meeting against Minnesota this season. These teams faced off in the Twin Cities last week with the Yankees walking out of Target Field with a four-game sweep.

Then with the Royals in town, the Yankees dropped the first two games of the series, but rebounded to take the final two games to send the Royals off with a series tie.

Tonight's Lineup, 7:05 EST @ Yankee Stadium:

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

Kuroda P

Pitching Preview:

Hiroki Kuroda will make his first start of the season against the Twins on Tuesday. Kuroda gave a good outing against the Orioles on Sunday, taking the loss while giving up only three hits over seven innings.

Kuroda is 7-6 with a 2.77 ERA on the season, and is 1-1 with a 2.62 ERA in his past five outings.

Scott Diamond will take the ball for the Twins, facing the Yankees for the second time this season. He pitched the series opener with the Yankees at Target Field on July 1, giving up three runs (two earned) on seven hits, while walking one and striking out five in 6 2/3 innings of work.

The left-hander Diamond is 5-8 this season with a 5.52 ERA for the Twins this season.

Yankee Notes:

* Brian Cashman announced that Derek Jeter has Grade-1 quad strain, keeping him out at least through the All-Star break, but not ruling out a return to the DL for the Yankees' captain.

"We'll have to give it some time and see how he responds," Cashman said.

Jeter made his season debut on Thursday against the Royals at Yankee Stadium, going 1-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI, injuring the quad during the third at-bat. He underwent an MRI after leaving the game, with the results showing the strain.

* Alex Rodriguez will play seven innings for the Tampa Yankees, Friday night. Cashman reported that A-Rod will not return to the Yankees before July 22.

He was scheduled to meet with MLB officials today about the ongoing investigation in the Biogenesis scandal. The details of how the meeting went is unknown.

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Nova Takes The Mound Needing A Yankees Win

Once again a lack offense gave no help to the Yankees Tuesday night as they fell to the Royals for the second day in a row, extending the losing streak to three games.

CC Sabathia did all he could, pitching a complete game while giving up just three runs on seven hits, taking the loss. The Yankees loaded the bases with one out in the first inning, but came away with only one run.

"It's frustrating; a loss is a loss," Sabathia said. "It doesn't matter how many innings you throw or how many runs you give up, if you lose the game, you lose the game. That's all that really matters."

Tonight's Lineup, 7:05 EST @ Yankee Stadium:


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

Pitching Preview:

Ivan Nova takes the mound for the Yankees after tossing a masterful outing last Friday. Since his last call-up in June, Nova has been nothing but solid for the Yankees, pitching to a 1-1 record with a 2.95 ERA in his past three outings.

"It changed my whole mind," Nova said about his last outing. "[Knowing] I'm pitching Wednesday, that makes me build up my comfort a little bit more. It's great to have a game like that and get back on the mound."

Nova has been much better than what he was before landing on the DL in last April, eventually being placed in Triple-A. Prior to his injury, he was 2-1 with a 5.16 ERA.

"The first time I get to the Yankees, to spring training, I knew there was going to be a fight. That's what I've been doing," Nova said. "There are ups and downs, I'm not perfect. When you're down you have to find a way to get back on track, and I think I'm doing that right now."

He'll be squaring off against another former AL East opponent in Wade Davis, who's coming a good start against the Athletics on Wednesday, allowing three runs on six hits while striking out eight over seven innings.

Going in the Yankees favor, Davis' ERA on the road this season is 6.81, compared to 4.44 at home, while his ERA during night games is also much higher, at 6.19.

Yankee Notes:

* A-Rod played in his 6th rehab on Wednesday, playing with the Single-A Tampa Yankees. He went 1-for-3 with a single and an RBI, his second hit during this rehab stint.

* David Robertson is still in second place in the American League Final Vote, trailing Steve Delabar of the Toronto Blue Jays. There's still plenty of time to vote, with voting ending Thursday at 4pm EST. Robertson also wanted to remind everybody that from 10am to 4pm, if you use the hashtag #HighSocksForVote, every tweet including the hashtag will count as one vote for Robertson.

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Rosenthal: "Yanks aggressively pushing Joba, Hughes"

Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com is reports that the New York Yankees, according the sources, are "aggresivly pushing" to trade Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes.

I'm not at all surprised by these reports, as it's only been a matter of time before the Yanks started to ramp up the trade discussions on these two players. With both in the final year of their contracts, and both having not the best of years, the return might not be very high.

If the Yankees were to trade either or both of these guys, they could use the opportunity to get another bat in return. With the offense as awful as it's been lately, even an above average hitter would help the Yanks' lineup in many ways.

Several teams have been seen scouting Joba and Hughes in recent weeks, but as of now, Rosenthal says that there isn't any deals close to being done, but a trade to a National League team could happen soon.

There are plenty of teams, however, that could really use the help of another starter or reliever -- Cardinals, Rangers, Giants, Braves, Dodgers and Diamondbacks.

Hughes has had a very up and down year, pulling off good and bad streaks every other week. Over his last 10 starts, he's 2-6, not making it past the 5th inning in four of those starts. For the entire season, Hughes is 4-8 with a 4.55 ERA in 17 starts, while giving ip 101 hits in 95 innings.

Joba's season hasn't been anything too special, either. He spent most of May on the disabled list, and in 22 appearances this season, Joba has an ERA of 5.75 with 22 strikeouts and 10 walks, while giving up 26 hits in 20.1 innings.

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Sabathia Takes The Mound Following Milestone Win

Several factors lead to the Yankees losing to the Royals, 5-1, in the series opener Monday night. An hour long rain delay forced the Yankees to pull starter Phil Hughes from the game after only four innings. And failing to score with the bases loaded with nobody out in the 9th out the icing on the cake for Kansas City.

Now on a two-game losing streak after their six-game winning streak was snapped on Sunday, the Yankees will try to rebound in the second game of this four game set.

Tonight's Lineup, 7:05 EST @ Yankee Stadium:

Gardner 8
Ichiro 9
Cano
Hafner DH
Almonte 7
Overbay 3
Nunez 6
Cruz 5
Stewart 2
Sabathia 1

Pitching Preview:

CC Sabathia passed a major milestone in his last start, notching career win win No. 200 against the Minnesota Twins last Wednesday. He held the Twins to two runs over seven innings while striking out nine while throwing a season-high 121 pitches.

"He's been huge," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "You think about all the wins that he's had, and I'm glad to get that out of the way for him. I don't like milestones. Players are going to think about it, and people are going to ask him about it. For CC, I think it's great. He's been huge for this organization."

CC did not face the Royals when the Yankees went to Kansas City in May, but he is 18-10 with a 3.26 ERA against them in his career.

He'll be going up against a former AL East foe, James Shields, who hasn't been pitching very well lately, with only one win and two no-decisions over his last three starts, while piling up a 6.48 ERA over that span.

Shields isn't coming off a great outing against the Indians, allowing five runs on nine hits while walking two and striking out three over 5 1/3 innings, which included a 34-pitch first inning.

"In the beginning of the game I was just missing my fastball," Shields said. "I kind of settled in, but it was about 80 pitches later. I've got to do a better job early in the game of getting ahead of batters."

Yankee Notes:

* Travis Ishikawa started at first base yesterday, but was replaced by Lyle Overbay in the 7th inning, who went 1-for-1 with a walk and a pinch-hit solo homerun in the 7th. His homerun would be the only run that the Yankees would score on Monday.

* Phil Hughes' night was cut short after throwing only 62 pitches in four innings when a one hour rain delay caused the manager Joe Girardi to put Adam Warren on the mound once play resumed.

"I was throwing in the cages and stuff and they asked me if I was OK, and I said, 'Yeah, I'm ready to go,'" Hughes said. "I just left it in their hands. Joe told me he never wants to mess with anyone's health, so you have to respect that."

* Derek Jeter played in his third rehab game with the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Berre RailRiders, going 0-for-2 with a walk, as well as reaching base on an E6.

"I feel good, there's been no issues whatsoever," Jeter said. "I had to run a lot [tonight], and everything felt good."

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Yanks Look To Start A New Streak With Hughes On The Mound

Sitting on the cusp of victory, a two-run homerun off the bat of Adam Jones, served up by baseball's greatest closer, Mariano Rivera, the Yankees lost out on a chance to not only dish out a sweep of the Baltimore Orioles, but it also snapped a season-high 6-game winning streak.

The Yankee will now try their hand at starting a new winning streak with the Kansas City Royals coming to town. These two teams have already met once this season, with the Bombers coming out of KC with a three-game sweep.

Tonight's Lineup, 7:05 EST @ Yankee Stadium:


Gardner CF
Almonte LF
Cano 2B
Hafner DH
Wells RF
Ishikawa 1B
Cruz SS
Gonzalez 3B
Romine C
Hughes P

Pitching Preview:

A couple weeks ago, Phil Hughes was on the verge of possibly losing his starting job, but he hasn't done much to hurt his reputation since then.

Hughes held the Rangers and Twins to a combined three runs on 11 hits in 15 innings. Facing the Twins last Tuesday, Hughes allowed only run on six hits over seven innings in the Yankees 7-3 win.

"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."

Hughes has also faced the Royals once already this season, back on May 10th. He allowed six runs on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings, picking up the victory.

Jeremy Guthrie takes the mound for the Royals, looking for his first win since June 10th against the Detroit Tigers. Guthrie began the season off on the right foot, going 3-0 with a 3.06 ERA in April, but has hasn't been as good since then, going 4-6.

Guthrie's last start came against the Indians in which he held them scoreless through the first five innings before giving up a couple hits in the sixth, eventually followed by an inside-the-park home run when left fielder Alex Gordon crashed into the left-field wall.

Yankee Notes:

* Derek Jeter played in his second game for the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Berre RailRiders on Sunday, reaching base three times, including a single a single to left field.

"It's good [to get a hit], better to get a hit than get an out," Jeter about his first rehab hit. "As long as I'm seeing the ball good, I'm fine. The results at this particular point I don't think is the No. 1 priority."

Jeter batted leadoff for the RailRiders, serving as the team's designated hitter a day after playing five innings at shortstop. Jeter drew a walk in his first at-bat, then collected his lone hit in his second trip to the plate. After striking out in his third at-bat, Jeter worked another walk in the seventh in his final plate appearance.

Reaching base three times, Jeter got a chance to work out his recovering ankle and said he wasn't at all worried about running the bases and testing his ankle.

"I'm not concerned with that," Jeter said at his postgame news conference. "I've done a lot of that down in Florida. It's good to get back into a game, but I don't have a checklist."

Jeter will be back in the field at shortstop on Monday night for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He's hoping to get some more chances after only one play on Saturday; a grounder hit directly at him, nothing that made him run to the side.

* Travis Ishikawa was claimed off of waivers from the Orioles yesterday, he'll be starting at first base for the Yankees in his first game. Ishikawa will be the 25th position players used by the Yankees this year. David Adams is no longer on the 25-man roster, yet nothing has been officially announced.

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Blown Save By Mariano Snaps 6 Game Winning Streak

Everything was going great for the Yankees until the 9th inning rolled around. Hiroki Kuroda pitched seven solid shutout innings. The offense had scored one run, just enough to keep them ahead for the most of the game. And Mariano Rivera was pitching the 9th, only two outs away from his 30th save.

But setting down Manny Machado on a ground out for the first out of the inning, Nick Markakis, who missed a game-tying homerun by a couple feet on the previous pitch, singled up the middle. Then, in a turn of events that seems to change the mood of the entire day, the Orioles offensive struck in one brief, quick moment.

Mariano threw a cutter on the inner-edge to Adams Jones, who made him pay by crushing a go-ahead, two-run homerun into the Baltimore bullpen to hand Mariano his 2nd blown loss of the season.

"You don't see it happen very often. That's the bottom line. He's been so good for us again this year," manager Joe Girardi said. "Every time it happens, you're kind of shocked. That's how good he is."

"I don't know exactly what the pitch was," Girardi said, "but I'm quite sure it wasn't where he wanted it."

"I wanted it to be more in. Didn't get in enough," Rivera said. "It wasn't really a mistake, just good hitting."

Rivera would eventually take the loss, and took all the attention away from Kuroda, who had pitched very well throughout the afternoon, taking the no-decision after pitching a win-worthy outing.

"The way Hiroki was pitching, I mean, he was doing outstanding. He did great. It would have been a good game to win," Rivera said. "This would have been a great game to save, and I didn't."

Nevering letting more than one O's batter reach base in any inning, Kuroda worked well all afternoon. He had just about all of his pitches working, doing his best to keep the ball down in the zone.

"I was trying to keep us in the ballgame," Kuroda said. "And with the one-run lead, I think I was able to do that."

Girardi pulled the plug on Kuroda's day after seven innings, permitting only three hits and a walk, while striking out four Birds on 88 pitches. His splitter was sharp and his fastball location was on point throughout the afternoon.

The Yankees used their bats to backup Kuroda, giving him only one run in support off of Baltimore's starter Jason Hammel, but they worked him well by racking up his pitch count, chasing him from the ballgame after only five innings.

Most of the damage, and the only run, came in a 32-pitch 2nd inning in which Zoilo Almonte worked an 11-pitch walk to begin the inning, then gave up a single to Lyle Overbay on the 10th pitch of the at-bat, moving Almonte to 3rd on the hit and run.

After a flyout by Luis Cruz, Eduardo Nunez, playing in his 2nd game off the DL, lined a ball deep enough to left field, letting Almonte score the only Yankee run.

From there. Kuroda took over, holding the Orioles bats silent up until he was removed from the game after the 7th inning. David Robertson did he best to earn some more All-Star game votes by throwing a 1-2-3 8th inning.

But after the blown save in the top of the inning, the Yankees went down swiftly in the bottom of the 9th against Jim Johnson to snap a six game winning streak and failing to pull off the sweep against their division counterpart.

"You don't want to go out there and get swept, especially against the teams in your division in games you need to win," Markakis said. "The way Kuroda threw the ball and, like I said, the conditions, we'll take it."

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Yankees In Hunt For A 7th Straight Win

After a comeback win yesterday to extend their winning streak to a season-high 6-games, the Yankees will send Hiroki Kuroda to the mound as they look to finish off the Orioles in their home ballpark, as they did to them just a week ago.

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
Kuroda P

Pitching Preview:

Kuroda (7-6, 2.95 ERA) was scheduled to pitch against the Orioles on Friday, but a sore left hip flexor kept him out of game action for a few days, and the Yankees have slotted him in for Sunday's matinee.

His job will be to keep the Birds off of the board early, as the Baltimore has been the first to strike in the first two games of this series, leading the late inning comebacks by the Yankees lately upbeat offense.

He'll also has to stop Chris David who has put up some good career numbers against the right-hander, going 5-for-15 with two homers in his career against Kuroda.

Kuroda's last start was against this very same Orioles club last Sunday when he took the loss after giving up four runs on seven hits over six innings.

Baltimore will counter with right-hander Jason Hammel (7-5, 5.19 ERA). Hammel hasn't won a game over his lost six starts, but is 6-2 record with a 4.45 ERA in 10 starts away from Camden Yards.

He'll have a tough matchup against several batters in the Yankee lineup with Robinson Cano enter 11-for-29 lifetime against Hammel, and Ichiro Suzuki is 8-for-17.

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Cano And Rivera Named To The All-Star Team

While the Yankees might have quite a few all-stars on the DL this season -- Jeter, A-Rod, Granderson, Teixeira and Youkilis -- they'll still be represented like every other team. Robinson Cano and Mariano Rivera will be the Yankee representatives at Citi Field this year.

Cano, also the American League Captain for the Home Run Derby, will be making his 5th appearance in the Mid-Summer Classic and it'll be his 4th straight selection as the starting second baseman.

"It's special that it's in New York," Cano said. "I can't wait for that day to happen."

Cano got off to a hot start to the season, but slowed down a little bit through May and June, but has picked up tremendously over the teams last ten games or so, and for the season, he's batting .293 with 20 home runs and 58 RBIs in 88 games.

To no surprise, Mariano Rivera will be making his 13th All-Star Game appearance in what will be the final season in his storied Major League career.

"It's always a privilege to be part of the All-Star team," Rivera said. "It's wonderful. Thank God for that. I have to do something good. I'm going to enjoy it. You have to enjoy and make sure that you get the best out of it."

The 43-year-old couldn't be having a better season to go out on, earning a save in 29 of his 30 save chances so far this season, with No. 29 coming on Saturday in the Yankees 5-4 win over the Orioles, while compiling a 1.39 ERA.

"The fact that I went through all that adversity and I'm standing here now talking about the All-Star Game, it's a blessing," he said. "It's a privilege. After all that, just being named an All-Star again, it just feels wonderful. Thank God for that."

The talk of the town over the past few weeks leading up to the big game is that many people believe Mariano should start the game, with it being the last All-Star game he'll ever play in. But Rivera want's nothing to do with that.

"What I do is close the games, I don't start the games. It's a privilege and honor, but I'm not contemplating it," he said.

Mo also went on the add, "It's wonderful to be named an All-Star again, especially with the game being here in New York. New York fans are the best and they deserve it. I know that they will put on a great show and hopefully we'll do a good job."

Though Cano and Rivera are already on the team, Yankees fans have a chance to put one more Bomber in the All-Star Game thanks to the final vote, which will include solid setup man David Robertson. You can go online to vote for him, or take to Twitter using the hashtag, #HighSocksForVotes.

Voting ends on Thursday at 4 PM EST, so you have to hurry if you want to see D-Rod suit up at Citi Field on July 16th.

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Nunez Comes Up Big In His Return To The Lineup

After a walk-off win last night, fueled in part by the strong starting performance from Ivan Nova, the Yankees were back at it on Saturday, looking for their 6th straight win. Thanks to a big day from Eduardo Nunez, the Yankees were able take down the Birds for the second straight day.

With Andy Pettitte pitching, trying to turn things around after going 0-3 in his last four starts, the Orioles jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the 1st inning on two-run homerun from Chris Davis, his major league leading 33rd of the season.

"The pitch, that was where I wanted to," Pettitte said. "I think he thought he hit a fly ball to center. I kind of watched his reaction. But the ball just kept going."

Baltimore extended their lead in the 2nd inning when Alexi Casilla lined a double down the left field line off of Pettitte, scoring Nolan Reimold from 2nd base, giving the O's a 3-0 lead.

But the Yankees, facing Chris Tillman, answered back in the bottom of the 2nd. After Travis Hafner walked to begin the inning, Zoilo Almonte and Lyle Overbay hit back to back single to load the bases with nobody out.

New Yankee Luis Cruz followed with a single into shallow left field bringing home Hafner to put the Yankees on the board. In his first at-bat since May 5th, Nunez hit a fly ball to deep left-center field, giving Almonte enough room to tag up and score.

The O's were at it again the in 4th, when J.J. Hardy double to lead off the inning. After eventually reaching 3rd, he scored on an RBI single by Taylor Teagarden, to put Baltimore back up by two.

Pettitte had not recorded a 1-2-3 inning until the 5th, when he retired the O's on nine pitches in that inning. In the bottom half of the 5th, the Yankees were able to plate two more runs to tie up the ballgame.

Nunez and Stewart lead off with back to back single, then Brett Gardner laid down a bunt to move them over. Ichiro then came up and slapped a ball back up the middle, but a nice diving grab by Casilla kept the ball in the infield and kept another run from scoring.

But it didn't matter because Robinson Cano followed up with a single of his own off of Tillman, that tied the game, and gave Pettitte some more room to work with out on the mound.

Then in the bottom of the 6th inning, Nunez came up big once again. After Overbay collected his 3rd hit of the game to open the inning, he was moved to 2nd on a bunt by Cruz. Nunez singled back up the middle off of Tillman, with Overbay sliding in safely at home to put the Yankees ahead by a score of 5-4.

"Younger players are always a little bit different sometimes," Girardi said. "You figured he wouldn't be as rusty. Nunie is kind of a free spirit, so I don't think Nunie thought much about having a lot of at-bats."

"I know he didn't have a lot of reps, but we had a situation where someone went down and we called him up," Girardi said. "[Nunez] has the ability to swing the bat well and play defense, and that's what he did today."

From there on out, Pettitte and the bullpen were able to keep the Orioles off the board, with Shawn Kelley picking up a big punch out of Manny Machado to end the 7th. David Robertson set the side down in order in the 8th. And Mariano Rivera, doing what he does best, sent the O's packing in the 9th, picking up his 29th save of the season.

Pettitte also picked up his first win since June 5th in Seattle, No. 251 in his career. Doing so while allowing four runs (three earned) on nine hits, he didn't walk a batter and struck out four on 100 pitches.

"I've been giving up a lot of runs early, and it's been a grind for me. I've been trying to grind as hard as I could to give this team a chance to win," Pettitte said. "You feel like this team is going to score some runs, so you hate putting us in a hole like I have been. So just real fortunate we were able to get back into it, get some big hits today and come away with a W."

Hiroki Kuroda will return the game action tomorrow as he takes the mound for the Yankees, facing off against Jason Hammel at 1:05 EST from the Bronx. And for those watching at home, that game can be seen on TBS.

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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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