WHY THE YANKEES FELL SHORT

The Yankees started off aggressive in the Motor City. Not knowing what to expect from CC Sabathia tonight, we needed to strike early and we did. Yankees had a 2 -0 by the end of the first, but it was clear that CC Sabathia wasn't doing his best CC impersonation. Instead he was doing his best AJ Burnett. Not good and walks galore.

By the bottom of the 3rd, the game was tied at 2. It was the second time around in the Tigers order and CC clearly didn't have it. Luckily for us, he did what he does best... fake it and get through the innings, not giving up a ton of runs and he kepy his team in it. On the other side Justin Verlander started out not looking great either. But that's what makes baseball great... you never know what's going to happen. In what was billed as a pitching duel, it wasn't. 2 pitchers on short rest, but only one would look good. It wasn't CC. Michael Kay said that the umpire was calling the same game for CC and Justin Verlander. I disagree. Clearly I wanted CC on top, but I tell you what, the strike zone for CC Sabathia was mysteriously small tonight, no doubt. I noticed several pitches that were strikes, were never called strikes for the Yankees. I'm not saying Verlander wasn't throwing them in the zone, he was, but so was CC. Bottom line.

In the 5th, it was clear that CC was laboring. Ramon Santiago put the Tigers in the lead 3-2. Both he and Brandon Inge were 2 for 2. You know, it was strange, Verlander appeared better than CC later, like he had something in reserve, striking out the side in the top of the 5th inning, making Brett Gardner and Russell Martin look silly. To me, I felt terrible. Yes, CC was doing his best dance, but the stuff wasn't there. But say what you will about CC, the guy showed heart and never gave up and never let the runs get out of hand. He did his best under the circumstances, I give him that.In the 6th, Derek Jeter got his second hit of the night. Granderson struck out and was clearly over-matched. He looked like a Little Leaguer up there. ARod struck out and looked ridiculous. To be honest, back to calling balls and strikes, 2 pitches to ARod both were the same pitch, one was a ball, one was a called strike three. I don't get it.(Photo: Getty)
CC Sabathia got knocked out in the bottom of the 6th and Rafael Soriano came in and took care of business. At this point it was 4-2 Tigers and I felt confidence again, my stomach wasn't in knots. I know that if we have stability on the mound, we can get some runs... or can we? We've done nothing since the first inning.

The 7th was nerve racking but there was hope. Posada walked and Martin got hit by a pitch and suddenly Verlander didn't look so good. Of course we needed a base hit for Brett Gardner just to keep the rally going with 2 outs and take the Detroit crowd out of it. Gardy delivered big, 2 RBI double and the game was knotted at 4. I was screaming in my basement at that point, Detroit was silent. But, you know what ticks me off? The announcers sounded sad about it. What the hell is that all about? I thought maybe I'd blow it off,
then Rafael Soriano made a pitch that Delmon Young drove into the right field seats and Brain Anderson, the announcer, was overjoyed. What a dick. At this point, it's 5-4 and I am longing for Suzyn Waldman and John Sterling. I can't stand the way TBS does baseball.

The top of the 8th, Granderson gave one a ride, but it was an out. Cano struck out on a crappy high called third strike. Alex Rodriguez came up and walked. But he looked slow and disoriented the whole at bat. Teixeira came up with 2 outs and a man on first and popped out weakly to Inge. Again Brian Anderson, the announcer sounded thrilled. John Smoltz actually made a comparison of Justin Verlander to hall of famer Nolan Ryan saying he's never seen anything like "this" since Nolan. Are you kidding me? The guys pitching a good game, can't we just we just leave it there?
David Robertson came in in the bottom of the 8th inning. Robertson struck out the first batter but then nails Peralta. It happens.

Then, Valverde came out to try and close out the 9th against the Yankees. Nick Swisher came up and popped out. Unbelievable. One out and Jorge Posada stepped into the box. He's 4-8 at this point. Posada worked a walk. Man on first and 1 out. Running for Posada was Eduardo Nunez and when Russell Martin came up, he gave the pitch a ride, but it was caught in right and Nunez could not advance. 2 outs and Gardy came to the plate. Nunez stole second and now he's in scoring position. Next thing you know, Gardner works a walk and men are on 1st and 2nd for Derek Jeter. The table is set. But there was not joy in Yankeeland... Derek Jeter had struck out.

Final Score: Tigers 5 - Yankees 4

Tomorrow IS do or die.

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WHY THE ANGELS HONORED JETER RIGHT

I wrote a piece titled WHY IT'S BIZARRO WORLD last month because word on the street was Jeter was to be honored by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim this weekend. Well, it happened. The Captain received a painting, commemorating Jeter's 3000th hit accomplishment. Not only does it speaks volumes, it's just damn nice. The Angels have their own heroes in baseball... Rod Carew, Reggie Jackson, Nolan Ryan. But they took a moment to honor someone else, a New York Yankee, for a huge accomplishment and baseball. So, as much as I don't want to tip my hat to Mike Scioscia, Torii Hunter and the rally monkey, I must do so. Bravo Gentlemen... Bravo. The Angels organization did it right. Good Job. Now... enough nice stuff, can we now go out there and beat these S.O.B.s today? Please?

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WHY LOYALTY & DEDICATION IS THE YANKEE WAY

What's the deal with kids and entitlement? I see is all the time in life and it happens in baseball too. Back in the day, ballplayers like Ron Guidry or Goose Gossage, or even non-Yankee Nolan Ryan fought their way through the ranks of the minor leagues to make a living in the Bigs and then pitched their hearts out for long careers, never giving up and never thinking they were better than the others. They had heart and they had dedication. They did it because that's what people do, they get a job based on talent and they push themselves harder and harder every year to stay on top. You're only as good as your last appearance, so you constantly need to be out there pushing yourself and never giving up, because one day, it's over and the new kids come in.



But I've noticed that when the new kids come in, it's not the same. And sometimes, the quality isn't the same. The attitude definitely isn't the same. True, they worked their way up to get to the Bigs, but many of the "new" kids think that once they're on top, they've made it. But it's only the beginning...not so fast kiddies.



Getting to the top means hard work, loyalty, dedication and you need to constantly stay on top and never flash an ego. Work, work, work. It's life, and once you make it, you can't just sit back and relax and try and change the rules, because, let's face it, the rules are always the same. Kids today feel entitled for what they've done on some minor league stage somewhere, but the big picture is once you make it, you keep your nose to the grindstone and you keep going...hard, in hopes for a long career.

Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera are perfect examples and perfect role models of this too. They share 5 championships and they never flashed their arrogance ever. Many see someone like Ivan Nova as the future Andy Pettitte. It's true, I see flashes of that. Never show ego, always show focus.



I write this because it's more common than you think. You can usually pick out these kids who feel like they are entitled all day long and you won't see them 3 or 4 years from now, because they thought they could stop working, they thought they could change the rules. They hold onto a moment that's long past, but they offer nothing more.



Baseball is a game of failure and so is life and at the end of the day the goal is to make each day count, better than the last. You never give up. That's probably why I love the Yankees, they want nothing less and they cut loose the dead weight and arrogance and guess what... they've won 27 championships doing it. Damn... they must be doing something right, huh?



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WHY THE YANKEES MUST REGROUP

The Yankees were lifeless tonight and I really can't explain it. Brandon Morrow is good, but he's not Nolan Ryan and the Yankees can hit the kid, but didn't and now it's 2 losses in a row against the Blue Jays coming off the All-Star game and like I've told you, the division teams mean something... you have to win those games. Well, the Yankees aren't and that's no way to win the division. Every game counts now... let's go guys, snap out of it.(Photo: Getty)
Give credit to Morrow. He went 6 2/3 innings and he was strong, giving up only 1 run from the Yankees, Eduardo Nunez knocked in Jorge Posada. The only other highlight was Nick Swisher having 2 hits. At least he's hitting, no one else is.
(Photo: Getty)
Freddy Garcia pitched 5 innings and allowed 5 earned runs. He gave up 7 hits and struck out 5 and walked 4. To me, it was not Garcia's best performance and no doubt that right now Brian Cashman is pacing a bit, wondering what happened to both Colon and Garcia. I will bet the Yankees get a top starter by the deadline, that's how things are unfolding any way.

I don't know what to say, the Blue Jays have outscored the Yankees 23 to 8 in the last 2 games and that's just disgraceful. What the Yankees need is a terrific pitching performance, someone to keep them in the game so the Yankees can work out their hitting kinks and get things moving in the right direction. The Yankees stink right now... fact. Read the full game recap HERE.

Final Score: Blue Jays 7 - Yankees 1. What has happened my team? Very disappointing.

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WAS BILL MASSE RIGHT ABOUT HUGHES?

(Photo: Corey Sipkin)
I was doing what I always do in the morning, looking for interesting nuggets related to the New York Yankees and I stumbled across something that I had forgotten about. I was reminded by Anthony Coleman, read him HERE, about a controversy in reference to Phil Hughes and Bill Masse from back in the day when Hughes was in the minors.

Who’s Bill Masse you ask? Well, in a nutshell, he was a former ballplayer who just didn’t quite have to stuff to make it to the pros. He did coach in the minors for a while though and was the manager while Phil Hughes was with the Trenton Thunder.

Back when Hughes was with the Thunder, Masse was heavily criticized by Yankee Brass and eventually let go for making critical comments about the way the Yankees handled a very young Phil Hughes. As Coleman puts it “Back then, the Yankees allowed him to pitch just 5 innings each start.” Masse thought the idea of that was absolutely ridiculous and said so:

“We get so ridiculous with this dumb pitch count stuff… Somebody came up with a pitch count thing (like) this is going to decide if a kid’s arm is going to be healthy or not. It’s like predicting the weather sometimes. ‘If he throws 66 pitches, he will be fine, but if he throws 81, he is going to get hurt.’ No one can predict that.”

OK, look, that’s his opinion and if I’m the Yankees, I'm sure I would reprimand Masse for speaking out of turn. They make the rules and Phil Hughes was our Golden Boy. We were grooming and breeding him to be a winner. We didn’t want him to blow out his arm at a young age and we knew that slow and steady would essentially win the race. So, right there, I get what the Yankees were doing, so we move on.

Masse: “The only negative you run into is that he never learns how to pitch when he is tired. He never learns how to pitch when he is a little bit fatigued. I think you run into those problems because he is always fresh. Also, he is never in trouble. He needs to learn how to pitch out of his second or third jam in the seventh inning with two outs and he’s throwing 90 mph instead of 94.”

Now, that I find interesting. Yes, it’s obvious, but it’s something that pitching coaches and Yankee brass never talk about. Masse may not have ever been a major league sensation, but maybe he was on to something. Do these guys that only pitch a certain number of pitches or set innings each game not know what it's like to pitch tired? Is there a better way to keep their arm healthy and strengthen them at the same time? It's something to think about. Look, it’s not the first time people have made this suggestion.

Nolan Ryan banished the pitch count so he could strengthen his starters in the Texas organization, (Read it HERE) and that goes back to Ryan's mentality of when he pitched until his arm fell off during his career. (Not literally.)

Yes, it was a different time then and pitch count came into play later than when Ryan pitched but that was because a lot of pitchers, were starting to get hurt and it was a way to monitor the young pitching a farm system had.

But to me, Masse makes a valid point. Am I suggesting young pitchers just throw all day long? No, I'm saying maybe, just maybe this mystery "Dead Arm" inflammation issue Hughes is trying to over come is related. Could it be? I'm just asking because I don't know.

Masse was fired by the Yankees shortly after his comments. Anthony Coleman goes on to say: “The 'kids’ glove approach' has all been brought back up with Hughes having arm troubles now and the handling of star prospects Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances.”

Coleman also says that Cashman denied the conservative approach to pitching Hughes the way they allegedly do and is not connecting any dots to the recent arm problems Hughes has had.

Now, again, you have to wonder. Phil Hughes mystery illness came out of no where and if you think about the amount of innings Phil pitched in 2010(176.1) compared to 2009 (86.1), there is a considerable increase with no gradual work to get him there. Masse may have been muzzled, but I did want to bring this up to all of you. It’s interesting. Thank you Anthony Coleman for putting it out there to make people think.

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