New York Yankees at Boston, not suprisingly, accounts for two of those, on April 22 and July 8, from Fenway Park.  The Yankees have one other Sunday Night appearance, April 15 vs. the Angels.  The two-time defending American League Champion Texas Rangers host Chicago in the April 8 SNB opener.

The World Series Champion Cardinals also have three appearances (May 20 and July 15, in addition to Opening Night April 4).

ESPN’s first seven Sunday Night games will feature at least one playoff team and several of MLB’s biggest stars will be on display, including the Angels’ Pujols; the Yankees’ Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano; Boston’s Adrian Gonzalez, Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury; Texas’ Josh Hamilton; Tampa Bay’s Evan Longoria; Philadelphia’s Ryan Howard and Chase Utley; St. Louis’ Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman; Dodgers slugger Matt Kemp; Atlanta’s Chipper Jones and Brian McCann; Chicago’s Paul Konerko; and Washington’s Ryan Zimmerman.

This season will also mark the debut of analyst Terry Francona, who joins play-by-play commentator Dan Shulman and analyst Orel Hershiser in the Sunday Night Baseball booth. Sunday Night games are also available via ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN3 and ESPN Mobile TV.

ESPN Radio’s Sunday Night Baseball broadcast team will again be play-by-play commentator Jon Sciambi and analyst Chris Singleton.  ESPN Radio, entering its 15th season of MLB coverage, will also broadcast a game of the week each Saturday during the regular season, the State Farm Home Run Derby and All-Star Game, and every Division Series, League Championship Series and World Series game.

The Sunday Night Baseball schedule as selected to date follows (all telecasts begin at 8 p.m. ET).  Game selections for the remainder of the season will be made three weeks (June and July 1, 22 and 29) or two weeks (August and September) in advance.

ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball Schedule
Date     Teams (all telecasts at 8 p.m. ET)
April 8     Chicago White Sox at Texas
April 15     L.A. Angels at N.Y. Yankees
April 22     Yankees at Boston
April 29     Tampa Bay at Texas
May 6     Philadelphia at Washington
May 13     Angels at Texas
May 20     St. Louis at L.A. Dodgers
May 27     Washington at Atlanta
June 3-July 1     TBD
July 8     Yankees at Boston
July 15     St. Louis at Cincinnati
July 22-Sept 23     TBD

“I’m trying to work on some things with my swing, make hard contact, and let what happen, happen,” he said over the weekend.

His first full season at the Double-A level proved successful, and although the numbers  slightly dipped from 2010, he’s produced at every level. He finished 2011 hitting .277, with 58 RBI, and 59 walks. He also hit 38 doubles, a few more than in 2010, between Trenton and Class-A Tampa.

Currently playing for the Phoenix Desert Dogs, Joseph is batting .221 with 10 RBI, and 5 walks in 77 at-bats.

While he’s trying to do some extra work at the plate, the second baseman is also putting in maximum effort to improve at his position.

“Really focusing on defense mainly here. Defense has been the key with me. I will always have to work on that.”

That’s an area the Thunder failed at as a team, setting a franchise-worst record with 158 errors committed. The Thunder were contenders for a playoff spot going into the last few games, but fell short, due in part to poor defense. They also lost some of their best players, including team MVP Ray Kruml, and top Yankees pitching prospects, Dellin Betances and Manuel Banuelos. For his part, Joseph was a mid-season Eastern League All-Star and after getting healthy following wrist surgery in 2010, he feels he stepped up in key areas.

“I think I ran the bases a lot better this year then I did in the years past. Not stealing bases but just knowing the situation ahead of time and being able to react to balls in the gap, tag when I needed to and really try and put pressure on outfielders.”

There are plenty of questions regarding his future with the Yankees. Despite efforts to restructure his contract, Robinson Cano, possibly the best American League hitter in 2010, isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. But Joseph has the utmost respect for what the Yankees decisions regarding his career.

“I let them tell me what Ineed to work on. I have faith knowing they know whats best for me as a player. All I want to do is play to my best ability everyday and I feel like they know that and have faith in me that I will play hard.”

Once fall league concludes, he already knows what his game plan is.

“This offseason i am going to devote time to getting stronger, improve defense, and also work a lot of agility/speed stuff to improve on reaction.”

Cabrera staked Scherzer to a 2-0 lead, a score that would remain the same until the sixth inning when he would again drive in a run against Garcia with a single up the middle. Garcia, who had allowed just 1 hit since Cabrera’s first inning homerun, would finally succumb to some fatigue with Cabrera’s single, followed by a Victor Martinez single. Garcia’s final line of 5.1 innings, 6 hits, 4 runs (3 earned), 0 walks, and 6 strikeouts looks pedestrian, but from innings two through 5, he successfully kept  the Tigers’ lineup off balance and off the scoreboard.

Cabrera would finish the day with 3 hits in 4 at bats with the 1 homerun and 3 RBI. It is the type of dominant performance that the Tigers need as the rest of the lineup can be pitched to. Cabrera is the best hitter in the series and the Tigers need to exploit that advantage. For a hitter with such talent, it is odd that Cabrera is somewhat underrated. He won’t be mentioned as a serious MVP candidate, but that looks to be an injustice. He led the American League in hitting with a .344/.448/.586 slash line with a league leading 48 doubles, 30 homeruns, and 105 RBI.

Perhaps the glancing over of his Pujols-like seasons is due to the perception that he is somewhat of a lazy player and does not play the game “the right way”. The perception is exacerbated by his two incidents involving alcohol over the past few seasons. But, a player with a career .317/.395/.555 batting line is someone who has elite skills. His Manager also describes a player who may just be misunderstood.  ”He has a lot of energy. What comes out of Cabrera, if you watch him, is how much he loves to play the game. He’s like a big kid, or a little kid, however you want to look at it. He just loves to play the game. He’s the most instinctive player I have. He’s smart. When I mess up, he knows it. Not all of them do, but he does,” said Jim Leyland.

That doesn’t sound like a player who isn’t into the game. Perhaps his game two performance will have some sort of impact on how he perceived around Baseball. Cabrera has appeared in the post season once before as a 20 year old rookie for the 2003 World Champion Florida Marlins. His first post season homerun was hit against Roger Clemens. He added his second career homerun at a time that the Tigers needed a jump in an important game two. For Cabrera, the chance to get back to the post season means so much. “A lot. We work for this. We work to get to the playoffs. We work to get a chance to win the World Series, if you get a chance. When you’re here, you have nothing to lose. You have to go out there and play hard and try and do your job,” said Cabrera.

While the offensive story was all about Cabrera, the Tigers most dominant player was right hander Max Scherzer. The day didn’t start that way as Scherzer threw 11 of 12 pitches out of the strike zone in the first inning. But, after walking two batters in the first inning, Scherzer would settle in. Even the hit he gave up, wasn’t hit hard. Robinson Cano would bloop a hit to left field to get the Yankees in the hit column. He’d give up a walk and hit in the seventh before giving way to Joaquin Benoit. Scherzer ended the night with six shutout innings, allowing just 2 hits, 4 walks, and striking out 5.

Max Scherzer is no stranger to expectations. He’s been a pitcher who has dominant stuff, but has failed to find any sort of consistency. The 26 year old averages 8.7 K/9, but has also allowed 69 homeruns over the past three seasons. This season has been his most inconsistent. He allowed 29 homeruns, 207 hits in 195 innings, and posted a career high 4.43 ERA. But, he posted the best walk rate of his career while maintaining his strikeout rate. Scherzer is expected to be the Tigers’ second starter, but obviously hasn’t put together a season that has lived up to his expectations. Game two showed the full potential of the young right hander who was acquired by the Tigers in that three-way trade that involved Curtis Granderson, Austin Jackson, and Ian Kennedy. When locked in, Scherzer can dominate a game.

Leyland was effusive with his praise of his pitcher. “Well, you never know what’s going to happen. Big stage, and he was terrific. There was no question about it, he was terrific today against a great lineup. He powered the ball pretty good, mixed his pitches well, got some outs with change ups. He pitched a terrific game,” stated Leyland.

Like Ivan Nova in game one, Scherzer showed remarkable poise for a big moment in a park that is conducive to homeruns. “ I think he’s a real thought out guy. I think he zeroed in today. He was locked in. He was determined,” said Leyland. For Scherzer, it was all about focusing and sticking with the game plan. “You really can’t focus on the ballpark per se. I was more focused on the quality of their hitters. And making sure I was executing pitches throughout the whole night. Even when I was behind in the count, never giving in in a situation where it could cost me. They’re a very good power hitting ballclub. For me it was making sure whether it was a fastball or off speed pitch that no matter the situation I had to execute it no matter what,” said Scherzer.

Aside from evening up the series heading to Detroit, Scherzer has helped put the Yankees in their nightmare scenario. Game three will be the long awaited duel between Justin Verlander and C.C. Sabathia. Every game is a must win, but the Yankees feel a bit extra pressure due to the inconsistency of their game four starter, A.J. Burnett. Burnett wasn’t supposed to start in this series, but the rainout has forced him into action. If Verlander does dominate the Yankees and lead the Tigers to a game three victory, the Yankees’ season will come down to A.J. Burnett, their much maligned and most inconsistent starter.

But, that is still a game away. For now, both teams will trust their aces in a series that has been marked by superstar play. Robinson Cano and Miguel Cabrera have each seized the spotlight thus far. Now, it is the pitchers’ turn. With the specter of A.J. Burnett on the horizon, the Yankees will be a desperate team in game three. Although Burnett is perfectly capable of dominating a start, the circus that his presence brings with the media questions and anxiety of every pitch will loom over game four, especially if the Yankees are down 2-1.

Quick Cuts

• Alex Rodriguez is 0-8 in the series. Rodriguez seemingly shook off the boo birds with his 2009 performance, but New Yorkers have shown their true colors by booing a player who is clearly playing hurt.
• Joe Girardi’s decision to pinch hit for Brett Gardner with Eric Chavez was curious. “Gardner is fine. Was hoping he (Chavez) would pop one,” said Girardi. But, that left Andruw Jones hitting against Jose Valverde in the ninth. Jones delivered a sacrifice fly, but Gardner would’ve been a better match up.
• Girardi drew some curious looks by having Jorge Posada in the lineup as the DH in game one. He did the same in game two. Girardi relies on experience and Posada is swinging well. If he continues to hit, he’ll play. Posada’s benching this season wasn’t about age; it was about performance.
• Miguel Cabrera has hit a homerun in three of his four post season series.
• Curtis Granderson’s homerun was the first run that Joaquin Benoit has given up since August 2nd.
• Yankees fell to 10-4 at the current Yankee Stadium in the playoffs.
• Jim Leyland admitted to at least thinking about intentionally walking Robinson Cano to get to Alex Rodriguez. He didn’t like the situation in game two, but that may happen if Rodriguez continues to flounder.
• Joe Girardi’s decision to use Luis Ayala in the ninth will be viewed as a mistake because Ayala gave up a run and the Yankees ended up losing by two. But, Ayala has been a key member of the bullpen all season and with three consecutive games coming, Girardi needed to conserve his bullpen as much as possible. It wouldn’t have been a mistake had he went with David Robertson, but it’s not as if he called upon Scott Proctor.
• Both Verlander and Sabathia are essentially pitching on short rest, even with the low pitch count. It will be interesting to see how sharp they are early in the game.

The second inning start did make for a different vibe. Although the score was tied, it was Jorge Posada leading off the inning. Justin Verlander’s pitching line was being read in the background of the pressbox. But, Doug Fister and Ivan Nova were the story of the early part of the game. Fister was never a strikeout pitcher. He came into the season averaging just 5 strikeouts per nine innings, which is barely a total sustainable in order to be an average Major League pitcher. Since coming to Detroit in a mid-season trade with the Mariners, Fister has dramatically increased his strikeout total, striking out 7.3 batters per nine innings. He did strikeout 6 in 4.2 innings. Fister, however, is a pitcher who relies on pinpoint control in order to compensate for sub par stuff. For his first three innings of work, he was able to hit his spots. He began to show signs in the fifth as the Yankees’ were noticeably aggressive and making better contact. Fister showed the positive and negative of his game in the start. He’s one of the most well prepared pitchers in the game, which helps him attack hitters. But, his stuff doesn’t allow for mistakes. The final line–4.2 innings, 6 runs on 6 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, and 6 strikeouts–is ugly and doesn’t indicate how well he pitched in his first few innings.

Meanwhile the Yankees’ Ivan Nova’s poise was noticeable in his first playoff experience. He’d throw two clean innings before running into trouble in the fifth inning. He walked Alex Avila, which was followed up by two singles. On the second single, Avila tried to score, but was called out as a result of a perfect relay from Curtis Granderson to Derek Jeter to Russell Martin. Nova would walk a batter in each of the next two innings, but would limit the damage from there. After the fifth inning, Nova was staked to a big lead, but his poise during the tie game gives an indication of his makeup, even if he couldn’t finish the game. The Yankees’ rookie would get the win with 6.1 innings, allowing 4 hits, 4 walks, and 5 strikeouts.

Nova would have to fight the typical nerves that all pitchers face with their first playoff appearance. ”I was excited and had to slow down everything,” said Nova, ”A quick inning like in a situation like today just lets you know that everything is the same (as the regular season).”

His Manager agreed.  ”I thought he controlled his emotions well. He didn’t have his best stuff, but he pitched to contact was able to give us a great game. He almost allowed us to not use or bullpen,” said Joe Girardi.

Game one may have been the moment the world finally got to know Robinson Cano. Cano has been an All-Star for the past two seasons. He finished third in last season’s MVP voting. But, Cano has been one of the game’s best players for the past few seasons. It has been a while since a single player dominated a playoff game. Robinson Cano dominated game one of the Division Series. Cano drove in the Yankees’ second run with a double off the top of the left field wall. In the sixth inning, he hit a 0-1 pitch  out for a grand slam. He would double in the Yankees 9th run in the eighth inning with another double. His 3 for 5 day contained 2 doubles, a homerun, and 6 RBI was just the type of night to give a National audience a glimpse into the player Cano has been for the past two years.

The lone questionable decision of the game was Jim Leyland’s choice to bring in Al Albuquerque, a right hander,  to face Cano in the sixth inning with the bases loaded. While the situation may have been suited for a left handed reliever, it didn’t matter with someone such as Cano. The Yankees’ second baseman performs equally with a .314/.354/.525 slash line against southpaws compared to a .296/.347/.537 against right handers. Cano isn’t a hitter where a Manager would choose a specialist. Instead, he chooses the best reliever. Leyland brought in Albuquerque who pitched 43.1 innings during the regular season while allowing just 21 hits, 9 runs, 29 walks, and 67 strikeouts. Most importantly, he hadn’t given up a h0merun all season. The move was the proper one. Cano just did what elite hitters do; they hit anyone.

“That’s one for everyone to second guess. To me, it was a no brainer. Lefties are hitting .177 against him. Cano is hitting .314 against left handers. That’s why he’s (Albuquerque) so valuable for us. He gets both right handers and left handers out. If Granderson gets a hit, I bring in Schlereth, but Alberquerque has been one of the best in the game at stranding runners.”

For Cano, the ascension the central part of the Yankees’ attack is complete. Joe Girardi saw this coming. “You look at what he’s done for us the last few years for us, he’s been a force. You look at the damage he did last year in the playoffs. We’ve talked about moving him up, but we’ve had players blocking him. He’s blossomed into a great player,” said the Yankees Manager. Girardi does deserve credit for moving Cano to the third spot in the order at the end of the season. If not for the move, Cano doesn’t have the opportunities. With Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez struggling, the same result isn’t guaranteed.

The move to the third spot hasn’t changed Cano at all. It is merely a conclusion from mastering and honing his skills. ”I think he’s learned to pull the ball, drive the ball, and I think he’s learned how to hit in big situations,” stated Girardi. The Yankees Manager also likes that Cano hasn’t changed anything. ”It (his success) tells me that he doesn’t change his approach, which is what you want from him”

The Tigers tried to make it interesting in the ninth by scoring 2 runs in the ninth, but Joe Girardi did something a bit different. At the start of the inning, Mariano Rivera was tossing in the bullpen. It was probably just the beginning of a side session to get some work in, but with the bases loaded and a six run lead, Rivera was ready quickly. He struck out Wilson Betemit to end the game.

Down by one game, the Tigers will turn to Max Scherzer, a high strikeout pitcher who is flyball prone. Originally, he was to start game three in Detroit, a much better environment rather than the homerun haven of Yankee Stadium. Scherzer averages 8 K/9 and was 2-0 in his two starts against the Yankees. Those starts show the best and worst Scherzer has to offer. He struck out 15 batters in 13 innings, but allowed 4 homeruns and 6 runs in the process. He’ll be opposed by the Freddy Garcia, the former power pitcher turned crafty veteran. Garcia isn’t a strikeout pitcher (5.9 K/9), but he is someone who relies on change of speed and location to be successful. In his one start against the Tigers, he allowed 10 hits and 4 runs in 7 innings. He did, however, strike out 8 batters. Garcia also might have fared better in Detroit, but he’s thrown to a 3.98 ERA in 13 starts at Yankee Stadium.

Although the Yankees won the first game, game two is likely very important. Joe Girardi hinted at that after the game, “They are a dangerous club and we know that. It’s always nice to win the first one, but tomorrow is an important game.” Tomorrow is an important game because of the rainout aftershocks. The Tigers already adjusted their rotation. Girardi announced his after the game. ”Right now, we are planning on CC on Monday and AJ on Tuesday,” said Girardi. That means the Yankees have a Garcia for game two, followed by the marquee match up in game three and A.J. Burnett in game four. There is quite a bit of uncertainty with Verlander having the ability to dominate the Yankees bats and Burnett being so inconsistent. The Yankees needed game one, but game two looks to be even more important.

The Detroit Tigers’ Justin Verlander was the most dominant pitcher in the game en route to 24 wins. Jose Bautista didn’t match his 54 home runs of a year ago, but had another 40+ home run season. Lance Berkman looked like his career was done in 2010, but he hit 30 home runs this season and is an NL MVP candidate. Jacoby Ellsbury was the king of the AL DL a year ago, but this season was a candidate for both the comeback player of the year and AL MVP awards.

Curtis Granderson had a bust out season, topping 40 home runs for the first time in his career. Teammate Derek Jeter picked up his 3,000th hit, while another, Mariano Rivera, broke the all-time record for career saves. Across town, Jose Reyes won his first batting title in what might be his last year as a Met.  Albert Pujols had an “off” year and still hit 35 dingers and Matt Kemp met and exceeded all expectations.  With all of that in mind, the finalists for the individual awards in each league should look something like this…

AL MVP – Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano (NY), Jacoby Ellsbury (BOS), Jose Bautista (TOR), Justin Verlander (DET)

AL Cy Young – Justin Verlander (Det)

AL Rookie of the Year – Jeremy Hellickson (TB), Ivan Nova (NY), Eric Hosmer (KC), Mark Trumbo (LA), J.P. Arencibia (TOR)

AL Manager of the Year – Manny Acta (CLE), Jim Leyland (DET), Ron Washington (TEX), Joe Girardi (NY)

AL Comeback Player of the Year – Jacoby Ellsbury (BOS), Melky Cabrera (KC)

NL MVP – Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder (MIL), Matt Kemp (LA), Lance Berkman (STL), Justin Upton (AZ)

NL Cy Young – Ian Kennedy (AZ), Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee (PHI), Clayton Kershaw (LA)

NL Manager of the Year – Kirk Gibson (AZ), Ron Roenicke (MIL), Clint Hurdle (PIT), Charlie Manuel (PHI)

NL Rookie of the Year – Freddie Freeman and Craig Kimbrel (ATL), Danny Espinosa (WAS), Javy Guerra (LA)

NL Comeback Player of the Year – Carlos Beltran (NY,SF), Lance Berkman (STL)

But baseball isn’t about the individual, it’s about the teams.

Early on the Indians, Royals, and Pirates played beyond expectation. In fact the Indians held first place in the AL Central for 85 days. The three teams would eventually fade, but the Arizona Diamondbacks did just the opposite. They were six games under .500 in mid-May, but played at a torrid pace the rest of the season to win the division title. Meanwhile Boston and Atlanta entered the final month of the season as virtual locks to make the post-season only to be eliminated on the final night of the season.

The LA Dodgers and the Mets had ownership and money issues, the Colorado Rockies and Cincinnati Reds were huge disappointments, and the Baltimore Orioles, despite much promise, finished last in the AL East for the fourth straight year. In the end the Yankees, Tigers, Rangers, Phillies, Brewers, and Diamondbacks captured their divisions while the Rays and Cardinals entered the playoffs as wild card entries.

What’s that? How did the Baseball Digest team do at predicting the post-season teams? Let’s take a look.

Well it appears, ahem, one person knew what they were talking about with the AL East. Yes, that would be me. Michael Maher, likewise, was the only one of our bunch who had the insight to pick the Tigers in the AL Central. He was also the only one to pick the Rays to win the AL wild card. Four out of seven dentist, er writers, chose the Rangers correctly in the AL West, while none of us had the Diamondbacks sniffing a title in the NL West.

Bill Ivie stuck his neck out picking the Braves to win the NL East, while everyone else selected the Phillies. Needless to say, his neck hurts. Bill’s beloved Cardinals didn’t win the NL Central as he had selected, but he was brought joy on the night of Game 162 when they made the post-season. Meanwhile Simon Sharkey-Gottlieb, Kirk Verner, and Matt Wilson all correctly chose the Brewers for the Central crown, but just like the NL West, no one got the NL wild card correct either. So the finally tally of correct predictions..drum roll please…four writers with 3 right each. Meanwhile Josh Landsburg, Mark Healey, and Bill Ivie…um, better luck next year. (In fairness, Bill did get 2 playoff teams correct, just in the wrong spots)

Michael Maher 3
Drew Sarver 3
Simon Sharkey-Gottlieb 3
Matt Wilson 3
Shai Kushner 2
Kirk Verner 2
Josh Landsburg 1
Mark Healey 1
Bill Ivie 0

Please check back after the league championship series for updated standings, and be sure to bookmark Baseball Digest to view all of our post-season coverage.

Drew Sarver is a senior writer  for BaseballDigest.com.  You can also read his work at his blog, My Pinstripes. He can be contacted at mypinstripes@gmail.com and can be followed on Twitter at @BD_Sarver and @MyPinstripes.

“It’s on,” said Steve Lux, vice president of business development for 2K Play. “At long last, this epic face-off can be played out on video game systems everywhere to determine which team will bring home bragging rights and who should report to the Minor Leagues.”

“The Nickelodeon Nicktoons have been petitioning to ‘go yard’ with the best players in Major League Baseball,” said Shaan Kandawalla, Vice President of Digital Games for Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group. “These characters have been training this entire season and are fielding a team of All-Stars to make history with the newest rivalry in all of baseball.”

It’s fastball versus stinkball in Nicktoons MLB as SpongeBob, ZIM, Dudley Puppy, Fanboy, Chum Chum, Stimpy and a dugout full of Nicktoons compete with more than 300 players from all 30 MLB® clubs, including Matt Holliday (St. Louis Cardinals), Andre Ethier (Los Angeles Dodgers), Miguel Cabrera (Detroit Tigers), Jason Heyward (Atlanta Braves), Cliff Lee (Philadelphia Phillies), and Robinson Cano (New York Yankees). MLB® ballparks, including Fenway Park and Dodger Stadium, and out-of-this-world Nicktoons venues like Frosty Freeze Field and the Poseidome, add new meaning to the term “home field advantage.”

Nicktoons MLB features play-by-play commentary by Perch Perkins, anchorman for the Bikini Bottom News, and the IRKEN EMPIRE’s irrepressible GIR, as well as multiple gameplay modes, including Pick-up Game, Tournament, Showdown and the swing-for-the fences Distance Derby. For the first time, Xbox 360 gamers will be able to experience controller-free pitching, batting and fielding with the Kinect for Xbox 360 sensor option. Wii gamers can utilize the Wii Remote™ to bat, pitch and slide, while the optional Nunchuk controls allow for precision throwing.

Specially marked packages of Nicktoons MLB contain exclusive Topps trading cards that spotlight both a Nickelodeon character and an MLB player, allowing fans to collect all nine cards in the series. Gamers who play out their own Showdowns at home are invited to report their scores, achievements and heroic moments at www.2kplayball.com.

Nicktoons MLB was developed by High Voltage Software for consoles and Black Lantern Studios for Nintendo DS and has been rated E for everyone by the ESRB. It is now available at retail for the suggested retail price of $29.99 (Wii/DS) and $39.99 (Xbox 360).

His initial call up to the Majors was an embarrassment- a little fish in a big pond. He couldn’t hit big league pitching and even worse, he looked like an ant trying to cover Yankee Stadium’s spacious centerfield and the adjacent gaps. He eventually worked his way up to a regular position, but performed miserably in 2008 and was sent to the minors. But Cabrera came into the 2009 season with a different attitude and eventually overtook Brett Gardner as the starting centerfielder. It was then that the Melkman began to deliver.

The Yankees had a number of new players and a new tradition, including pie ala A.J. Burnett in the face of any walk-off winning run producer. It began early in the season, April 22nd against Oakland- a 14-inning affair was decided when Cabrera hit his second home run of the game for a 9-7 victory. On May 24, the Yankees rallied in the 9th against the Philadelphia Phillies and closer Brad Lidge. Down 4-2 entering the inning, the Yankees tied things up and had the winning run on second base. That’s when Cabrera singled to bring home his best buddy, Robinson Cano, with the winner.

Cabrera wasn’t just a walk-off wizard with the eventual champion Yankees, he excelled at the plate when the innings grew late. There was an 8th inning game-winning home run against Texas in June and an RBI single in the same frame to top the Angels in the first game in May. In late and close games, he hit .304 with 19 RBI and a .754 OPS.  Though he wasn’t credited with a walk-off salutation, it was his 13th inning grounder in Game 2 of the ALCS that Maicer Izturis threw away to give the Yankees the win.

But the Yankees were not completely happy with Cabrera, most likely because of his relationship/influence on Cano, as well as his tendency to carry too much weight on his six-foot frame. Cabrera was jettisoned to Atlanta after the season and his offense plummeted. His OPS dropped to .671 and he drove in just 42 runs in 509 plate appearances. But the Melkman still had some late inning deliveries in him. An August 2-run single in the 9th inning toppled the Dodgers at Turner Field. In May, Cabrera’s infield single combined with a David Wright error gave the Braves a last inning 3-2 win over the New York Mets.

Cabrera moved on again for the 2011 season after Atlanta released him in October. This season is on average about 20 games old, but Kansas City has quickly learned the lore of  “late inning Melky”. Cabrera provided the game winning, 12th inning hit on April 5th to push the Royals’ record to 4-1. Two weeks later, Cabrera threw out the Indians’ Carlos Santana at the plate in the 8th inning to hold the Royals deficit at two. Then in the 9th, he capped off a three run rally with the game winning single. The Melkman had left his calling card once again.

Though he has had an up and down career with the bat, Cabrera has maintained his late inning heroics. His nine walk-off winners since 2006 are the third highest total in Major League baseball (only Andre Ethier (11), and Ryan Zimmerman (10) have more). He may not have a Hall of Fame career, he may be relegated to the bench at some point, but when the game is on the line, fans know that Melky Cabrera can be counted on to set off a celebration.

Drew Sarver is a senior writer  for BaseballDigest.com.  You can also read his work at his blog, My Pinstripes. He can be contacted at mypinstripes@gmail.com and can be followed on Twitter at @BD_Sarver and @MyPinstripes.

There are sleeper picks that “everybody” talks about:  young players whom they expect to have a breakout season (Colby Rasmus).  A manager’s drafting success will be determined not by his first picks, but by his later picks.

With the end of April quickly approaching, I set out to name a team of most valuable players at each hitting position and one starting pitching position.  To make this more challenging, I determined that I would not use any players with an average draft position (ADP) of 150 or better in the CBS Sports fantasy baseball game.  To my surprise – and obviously the surprise of many who drafted these players so late – there are excellent performances from players outside of the top 150 in ADP.

C – Russell Martin (199.68 ADP)

Martin currently sports a .328 AVG while leading all MLB catchers in runs (12), home runs (six) and RBIs (16).  Fantasy managers used to clamor for Martin in their fantasy drafts.  From 2006 to 2008, Martin hit .285 and averaged 79 runs, 14 home runs and 73 RBIs per season.  Martin followed three strong seasons with back-to-back seasons of failing to live up to the expectations of fantasy managers.  In the 2009 and 2010 seasons, Martin hit .249 and averaged 59 runs, six home runs and 39 RBIs per season.

Martin appears to be healthy in the young 2011 season.  Health permitting, Martin should continue to find success, especially in a potent New York Yankees lineup.

1B – Ike Davis (172.54 ADP)

As a rookie, Davis was one of the few bright spots in a dismal 2010 New York Mets season.  Davis hit .264 with 73 runs, 19 home runs and 71 RBIs.  Davis is currently hitting .316 with 11 runs, four home runs and 18 RBIs (third among all MLB first basemen).  Davis currently has at least one RBI in 15 of his 21 games this season; likewise, he has at least one hit in 15 of his 21 games.

After the Mets endured a seven-game losing streak, Davis went on a six-game hitting streak, hitting 8-for-21 (.381 AVG) and leading the Mets to victory in four of the past six games.  Although the Mets are not expected to contend for a playoff spot in 2011, Davis is a young star on the rise with growing fantasy expectations.  The return of a healthy Jason Bay in the Mets lineup should give Davis some lineup protection and enable him to see more pitches to hit.

2B – Neil Walker (175.02 ADP)

Walker is currently hitting .266 with 14 runs (fifth among second basemen), three home runs and 13 RBIs.  Fantasy managers will have to pardon Walker’s .266 AVG, as it is a byproduct of a recent slump.  Prior to a four-game hitless streak, Walker was hitting .290 as of April 18.

In 2010, Walker hit .296 in only 110 games with 12 home runs and 66 RBIs.  Now a full-time starter, it would not be unreasonable to expect him to slightly improve upon those numbers in 2011.

3B – Placido Polanco (201.42 ADP)

Polanco is currently hitting .366 with 12 runs, two home runs and 15 RBIs (fourth among MLB third basemen).  The hot start to April with his .366 AVG should not be a surprise to fantasy managers, as Polanco is a career .304 hitter; however, his two home runs and 15 RBIs this early in the season are big surprises.  Since 2005, Polanco had only hit double-digits in home runs once (10 home runs in 2009).

Despite his lack of power, Polanco is a valuable fantasy player who can be expected to hit for a respectable AVG while having ample opportunities to score runs in the Philadelphia Phillies lineup.  His position eligibility at both 3B and 2B should make him all the more attractive in every fantasy format.

SS – Jed Lowrie (242.75 ADP)

Lowrie is currently hitting .431 with 13 runs, three home runs and 12 RBIs.  Lowrie’s hot start had fantasy managers scrambling for the waiver wire, as his fantasy ownership rose from 20 percent to 80 percent in just a matter of weeks.  Lowrie had never been a full-time starter in the MLB before, having played 81 games in 2008 and a combined 87 games in 2009 and 2010.

I question whether or not Lowrie can maintain a strong AVG throughout the course of an MLB season; however, he hit a promising .287 with nine home runs in only 55 games during the 2010 season.  Lowrie also bats in what should be a potent Boston Red Sox lineup in 2011.

OF – Lance Berkman (215.67 ADP)

A career .297 hitter, there is no doubting Berkman’s ability to swing the bat.  However, there were concerns about Berkman’s durability after he hit .262 and averaged only 129 games from 2009 through 2010.  Also adding concern to his durability was his moving from first base to the outfield after signing with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Despite the injury concerns, Berkman has been healthy thus far in 2011.  With Albert Pujols struggling and Matt Holliday missing several games with an appendectomy, Berkman carred the Cardinals lineup as he put on an MVP-caliber performance in the month of April.  Berkman is currently hitting .377 with 19 runs, six home runs and 15 RBIs.  Health permitting, Berkman is more than capable of having an all-star season in 2011.

OF – Alex Gordon (230.73 ADP)

Gordon was once a top prospect whom fantasy managers expected a breakout season from for several years now.  When Gordon failed to deliver that breakout season they were expecting, he was branded with the underachiever label by many frustrated fantasy managers.  Perhaps many more were poised to write Gordon off from fantasy baseball if he does not deliver in the 2011 season.  Thus far, he is delivering.

Gordon is currently hitting .356 with 18 runs, one home run and 14 RBIs.  It should not come as a complete surprise to fantasy managers if Gordon has success this season; Gordon hit 36 doubles and 35 doubles in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

OF – Jeff Francoeur (292.76 ADP)

The Kansas City Royals have yet another player on this list, as Francoeur joins Gordon.  Francoeur is currently hitting .325 with 14 runs, four home runs, 18 RBIs and three stolen bases.  The success of Gordon and Francoeur have played a large part in the Royals being 12-10 at this time.

Although Francoeur has two 100-RBI seasons to his credit (103 in 2006 and 105 in 2007), you should not expect this success to be maintained throughout the season.  Francoeur has a history of being a streaky and inconsistent hitter.

SP – Aaron Harang (257.33 ADP) & Kyle Lohse (260.13 ADP)

Although the plan was to name only one starting pitcher, I felt it was necessary to name both Harang and Lohse as both have similar ADPs and statistics.  Harang currently has four wins, 21 strikeouts, a 1.87 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP; Lohse has three wins, 22 strikeouts, a 2.01 ERA and a 0.73 WHIP.

Both pitchers have struggled mightily in the past few seasons with injuries and poor performances.  Between the two, Harang is more likely to maintain his success as he is a member of the San Diego Padres, who play in perhaps the most pitcher-friendly ballpark in the MLB; however, Lohse is likely to win more games than Harang as the Cardinals lineup should provide Lohse with more run support than the Padres will give Harang.

Christopher Wenrich is a senior fantasy baseball contributor for BaseballDigest.com and can be reached at philliesmuse@yahoo.com.  You can follow him on Twitter @DuggerSports.

Twins starter Francisco Liriano started out Wednesday night’s game like the ace of the Twins staff he has become.  But just as he faltered down the stretch of the regular season, Liriano wore out as his pitch count rose in the 6th inning.

The Dominican born left-hander was dominant early, making Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, and Jorge Posada look silly for three of his seven strikeouts.  He had retired nine straight and cruised into the 6th inning up 3-0.  After Nick Swisher was Liriano’s 10th straight victim, Teixeira ripped a double into the left field corner and the tide began to turn.  Alex Rodriguez fought his way to a full count walk and  Robinson Cano showed why he’s a top AL MVP contender when he delivered an RBI single to right to get the Yankees on the board.  Liriano bounced back to strike out Marcus Thames for the second out, but Jorge Posada roped a single to right to cut the deficit to one.  Curtis Granderson, who had been criticized all season for his at-bats against left-handers, drove a 94-mph fastball  off the wall in deep right-center for a 2-run triple that put the Yankees on top for the first time, 4-3.  It also ended Liriano’s night.

Minnesota’s offense had given Liriano support early when Michael Cuddyer hit a 2-run bomb off CC Sabathia for a 2-0 lead in the 2nd inning.  A frame later, aggressive base running by Orlando Hudson helped manufacture a third run. The O-Dog  singled through the left side and a batter later advanced all the way to third base when Teixeira had to dive to beat Joe Mauer to first base to record the out on Mauer’s tapper.  The O-Dog’s hustle paid off when Posada mishandled a Sabathia sinker for a run producing passed ball.

Sabathia couldn’t maintain the lead in the home half of the 6th after he retired the first two hitters.  The Twins loaded the bases and Sabathia, showing a rare lack of control, walked rookie Danny Valencia to force in the tying run.

Teixeira’s mammoth go-ahead blast off of Jesse Crain stayed just inside the right field foul pole and allowed Girardi to begin mixing and matching with his bullpen.  Boone Logan, David Robertson, Kerry Wood, and Mariano Rivera shut down the Twins the rest of the way and guaranteed the Yankees at least a split when they head home for Game 3 on Friday in New York.  Rivera recorded a four out, four broken bat save, getting Denard Span to ground out with the tying runs on base to end the 8th inning and Jim Thome to pop out as the tying run in the 9th.

From Joe Girardi’s press conference,

On Sabathia: “..it’s odd that he walked that many guys, but I threw the ball decent.”

On Granderson: “Grandy’s been a different guy since August in Texas.  He made that little adjustment..he’s a different guy.”

From Ron Gardenhire’s press conference:

On leaving Liriano in to face Granderson: “Granderson was hitting like .188 against him.  We wanted to let Liriano try to work his way out of it.”

Drew Sarver is the Yankees content editor and contributor  for BaseballDigest.com.  You can also read his work at his blog, My Pinstripes. He can be contacted at mypinstripes@gmail.com and can be followed on Twitter at @BD_Sarver and @MyPinstripes.

2010 Season record: 93-64

The Yankees opened up a big rivalry week and their final homestand of the season with a four game series against the Tampa Rays.  With the division title quite possibly hanging in the balance the Yankees continued to disappoint the Yankees Universe by continuing their late season slump.  The Yankees are 11-13 in the last full month of the regular season and have allowed Tampa Bay to overtake them in the AL East.

The first game of the series was an emotional one as a monument to recently deceased principle owner George M. Steinbrenner was unveiled in monument park.  The pitching match up pitted Matt Garza against rookie Ivan Nova.  The Yankees’ starter tossed five scoreless innings before he and the bullpen faltered in the 6th.  A 4-0 Yankees lead was suddenly gone, but the Yankees offense responded quickly with four runs of their own in the home half of the 6th. Curtis Granderson  homered twice in the game, including the game winner in the Bombers 8-6 victory.

The next game was a match up between two of the games best young pitchers, Phil Hughes and James Shields.  The Rays right-hander had dominated the Yankees previously this season (2-0, 2.77 in 3 starts), but the Yankees offense ruined his day this time around by tagging him for five earned runs. Hughes struggled with his control, but fought his way through six-plus innings to earn his 17th win. Robinson Cano and Lance Berkman led the offense with 2 RBI each in the 8-3 Yankees win.

The Yankees sent A.J. Burnett to the mound to clinch the series with a victory, but the inconsistent pitcher suffered another blow to his season.  This time around the culprit was from Mother Nature. The game was delayed for over two hours due to a rather impressive lightning show and heavy rains.  Unfortunately for Burnett, that meant he wouldn’t return after allowing one earned run in three innings pitched.  The Yankees bullpen was completely ineffective- four pitchers combined to allow six earned runs in six innings.  Meanwhile the Rays’ pitching excelled and Tampa Bay cruised to a 7-2 triumph.

The series finale featured a rematch of two of the top AL Cy Young contenders, CC Sabathia and David Price.  Unlike their faceoff in Tampa on September 13, neither pitcher was particularly sharp, especially Sabathia.  The big left-hander allowed seven earned runs in 5.1 innings.  Meanwhile, Price gave up an early 2-run home run to Marcus Thames, but the Rays earned a series split with a 10-3 victory.

After the clash with their new rivals the Yankees then took on their old rivals from Boston.  Andy Pettitte couldn’t make it out of the 4th inning as the Red Sox teed off on him in the series opener. The game turned out to be a slugfest as Jed Lowrie and Bill Hall hit 3-run homers early in the game and the Yankees responded with a season high six home runs, two each by Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez.  However the Bombers bats came up short on the 10-8 loss.

Ivan Nova took the mound in the second game against Jon Lester.  Lester outshined the rookie by baffling Yankee hitters all day.  The Yankees managed just two hits off of Lester, who picked up his 19th win with seven shutout innings.  Nova on the other hand allowed four earned runs in just 4.2 innings pitched.  The Red Sox were thinking sweep after a 7-3 victory.

The series finale was a wild one in Sunday night prime time.  Phil Hughes faced off against Daisuke Matsuzaka in a surprising pitcher’s duel.  Hughes allowed a single run in six innings while Dice-K had one of his best starts of the season (8 IP 2 ER). A-Rod’s dramatic 2-run home run in the 7th had given the Yankees a 2-1 lead and prompted Joe Girardi to go to Mariano Rivera for a four out save.

After getting the final out in the 8th, Rivera ran into trouble in the 9th or I should say the Red Sox ran all over Rivera and catcher Jorge Posada.  Ryan Kalish and Bill Hall stole two bases each in the inning as the Red Sox rallied for a pair of runs and a 3-2 lead.

Then the Red Sox sent their dominant closer out to the mound, but Jonathan Papelbon also blew a save after he allowed an RBI single to Robinson Cano.  The Yankees came up with the 4-3 game winner the following inning when Juan Miranda walked with the bases loaded.

Positives:

After struggling for much of the second half, Phil Hughes has pitched to a 3.79 ERA in his last three starts.

The Kerry Wood deal keeps looking better and better.  The one time Cubs phenom has not been scored upon in 12.1 innings in September and has allowed just one earned run in 25 innings since his trade deadline acquisition.

Negatives:

The Yankees don’t have their fate in their own hands when it comes to the division title.  Tampa Bay owns the tie breaker having won 10 of the 18 games played between the two teams, so the Yankees need to win the division outright.

Mariano Rivera has been struggling as of late; the Yankees always unhittable closer has been getting hit.  The closer has two blown saves in September, and in his last 10 games has a 5.06 ERA allowing six earned runs in only 10.2 innings pitched.

The Yankees continue to have concerns with their starting pitching which has been very inconsistent over the last couple of weeks. Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman have a lot of thinking to do when it comes to setting the playoff rotation. Sabathia is without a doubt the game 1 starter, but after that it’s anyone’s guess.

What’s Next:

The Yankees will end the season with three game series against the Toronto Blue Jays and the Boston Red Sox.  This is the Yankees last chance to put the ship back on the right track.

John Fetter is a regular Yankees contributor for Baseball Digest.  He can be reached at jfetter@sportstalk88.com

2010 Season record: 90-59

The final six games of the Yankees nine game road trip began in much the same manner the entire trip did- on the wrong side of the ledger.  After being swept by the Rangers in three games in Texas the Yankees headed to Tampa Bay for a big AL East showdown with the Rays.  After that it would be on to Baltimore to play the suddenly resurgent Orioles before heading home to face the Rays in the last homestand of the season.

Not every game is worth the price of admission, but the series opener in Tampa Bay was worth it and more.  A match up of Cy Young favorites CC Sabathia and David Price lived up to it’s hype.  The two matched zeroes for eight innings before turning things over to the bullpen.

Both teams had just four hits, but it was the last one that counted most.  Reid Brignac, who entered the game in the 10th after Carl Crawford was ejected, led off the bottom of the 11th with a game winning home run off of Sergio Mitre.  The win temporarily vaulted Tampa Bay over the Yankees and into first place in the AL East by a half-game.

There was no pitcher’s duel in site as the two teams met on Tuesday night.  The Yankees jumped all over Rays starter Matt Garza for a 6-0 lead behind home runs from Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano.  But rookie starter Ivan Nova got hammered in the 5th before he could qualify for the win.  Things then went from bad to worse; up 6-4 with two men aboard, Boone Logan served up a 3-run gopher ball to pinch-hitter Willy Aybar to put the Rays in front for the first time.

The Yankees still had a dog in the fight though and Cano quickly tied things up in the 6th with an RBI double.  Jorge Posada’s home run put the Yankees ahead in the 10th and led to a dramatic finish.  Carl Crawford led off the Rays’ half of the inning with a single off Mariano Rivera and stole second base with one away.  Matt Joyce lofted a lazy fly to shallow right that Greg Golson gloved and then  fired a laser beam one hopper to nail a surprised Crawford as he tried to tag up and advance to third.  Rodriguez made a nice scoop of the ball and tag for a game ending double play.  Just that quickly the Yankees were back in first place.  But how long would it last?

The series finale pitted Phil Hughes against “Big Game” James Shields, whose nickname only seemed to apply to games against the Yankees in 2010.  It continued Wednesday night when Shields, who had already beaten the Bombers twice this season, held them to one run over 6.1 innings.

Dan Johnson’s 2-run home run had given the Rays a 2-1 lead, but Curtis Granderson put the Yankees on top in the 7th when he launched a 2-run home run of his own.  The play was set up by a faked hit by pitch by Derek Jeter that made the rally possible.  Hughes was pitching one of his better games in a while, but Johnson came up and bit him again in the home half of the 7th, drilling another 2-run home run for a 4-3 lead that the Rays would not relinquish.

The Yankees arrived at Camden Yards back in second place with the Buck Showalter revived Orioles waiting for them.  The O’s had taken 2 of 3 from the Yankees at home the prior week and were just a 9th inning Nick Swisher home run away from a sweep.

Despite a strong outing from A.J. Burnett, who was sporting an unexplained black eye and swollen cheek, the Yankees’ malaise continued.  Home runs by Adam Jones and Robert Andino had given the Orioles a 3-1 lead entering the 9th inning.  Koji Uehara, who had surrendered Swisher’s game winner at Yankee Stadium, was brought in to close things out.  But Posada led off with a single and one batter later Granderson singled as well.  Uehara got a big out by getting Mark Teixeira to pop out for the second out of the inning, setting up a showdown with Rodriguez.

The Orioles and their fans though the game was over when A-Rod took a strike two pitch that just missed inside.  Given new life, the active career home run leader added to his total with a go-ahead 3-run blast into the left field seats.  Rivera took the O’s down in order in the 9th for a 4-3 win, that coupled with Tampa Bay’s loss to the Angels, put the Pinstriped crew once again into first place.

The middle game of the series was all about redemption with a personal boost for Yankees starter CC Sabathia.  The Yankees ace had one of his worst outings at home against the Orioles on 9/7, but this time pitched more like the Sabathia that was on the mound in Tampa.  The Yankees offense busted out of their slump with an 11 run output, that included home runs by Cano and Granderson, to help Sabathia pick up his 20th win for the first time in his major league career.  Final, Yankees 11 Orioles 3.

The Yankees went for the sweep on Sunday and appeared to be in good shape as Andy Pettitte made his first major league start since injuring his groin on July 18.  The southpaw looked as sharp as ever, limiting the Orioles to three hits over six innings and left the game with a 3-1 lead.

But after the Orioles cut the lead to 3-2, red hot Luke Scott hit a solo home run off Rivera in the 9th to send the game to extra innings.  The Yankees loaded the bases with one out in the 11th, but Mike Gonzalez got Lance Berkman to bounce into an inning ending double play.  The Orioles’ offense then took advantage against David Robertson.  Scott led off the bottom of the 11th with a double and quickly came home with the winning run when Ty Wiggington followed with a single to right-center.

The road trip finished 3-6 instead of 4-5, but the Yankees remained in first place after Tampa Bay lost to Los Angeles for the second time in three days.

Pinstriped Positives:

Despite having a very un-Derek Jeter like season, the Yankees captain topped 100 runs scored for the 13th time in his career and ended the road trip with an eight game hitting streak.

Kerry Wood continues to impress; since acquisition at the trade deadline, the hard throwing right-hander has allowed just one earned run in 23 innings pitched.

Alex Rodriguez was 11-33 (.333) on the nine game road swing with three home runs and 11 RBI.

Negatives:

Injuries have taken a toll on first baseman Mark Teixeira.  The always smiling Maryland native had been on a tear in the second half, but injured his thumb diving in Chicago on 8/29 and two days later broke his pinky toe when he was hit by a pitch against the A’s.  Teixeira has hit just .194 in the month of September and has slugged at just a .226 clip.

Mariano Rivera was suddenly human on the road trip, blowing two saves after converting 11 straight opportunities since July 4.  Though he would never use it as an excuse, Rivera hasn’t seemed quite right since manager Joe Girardi used him for two innings on 9/10 and brought him back the very next night.

What’s Next:

The Yankees finish up the season with their final homestand before hitting the road for the last time during the regular season.  They go head to head with Tampa Bay for four games before hosting Boston for a weekend trio of games.

Drew Sarver is the Yankees content editor and contributor  for BaseballDigest.com.  You can also read his work at his blog, My Pinstripes. He can be contacted at mypinstripes@gmail.com and followed on Twitter.

Hard to believe that was the case.  Now, it is not a laughing matter. After Garza’s start last week and Tuesday night, no one can write off his struggles.

Something is not right with him. Maybe he has a dead arm. Whatever it is, this is not the right time for him to lose it.

With James Shields and Jeff Niemann being unreliable, the last thing the Rays need is to see their #2 starter being a mess.

If David Price is the only guy the Rays trust in the playoffs, they are going to be one and out. They can only get by with the struggles by the rest of the starters for so long.

The Rays banked on all of their starting five to help them win games this year. It worked for the most part, but as we head to the final stretch, most of their starters are not doing well.

It was thought Garza would be immune by all this, but that is not the case anymore. Yes, it is two starts, but his fastball has nothing right now. He is throwing batting practice to the other team.

Boston hit him around to the point he left in the middle of the fifth inning last week. He blew two leads, and he allowed four home runs in that contest.

Tuesday night was not any better. The Rays needed a good performance out of him, but that was not the case. He allowed six runs and nine hits over four 2/3 innings against the Yankees.

Garza did not had it from the start. He threw the first two scoreless innings of the game, but he had runners in scoring position. He was fortunate enough to hit the strike zone to get out of it.

He was not lucky in the third inning. The Yankees scored four runs in that inning, including a two-run blast by Robinson Cano.  His night was done after he added two more runs in the fifth inning to make it a 6-0 lead by the Yankees.

The Rays’ southpaw knew he could not get by all night long. Not against the Yankees. Yes, the Yankees are struggling to hit, but they have not forgotten how to hit guys who can’t pitch.

Only good things about his night was that he did not take the loss in this game. The Rays bailed him out by scoring seven runs in the fifth inning, which gave them a 7-6 lead.

The Rays eventually went on to take a 8-7 loss in extra innings. Jorge Posada hit the game-winning home run for the Yankees in the tenth inning off Dan Wheeler.

Wheeler took the loss, but it should have never gotten to the point. It was written that the Rays starters need to pitch seven good innings, and hand it to Joaquin Benoit and Rafael Soriano to finish the game.

Benoit and Soriano pitched last night, but that was only to keep the game tied.  This is not the scenario they should be in. It was a good move by Joe Maddon to use both of them again, but Garza’s job is to go pitch six or seven innings and then use those guys.

Lately, Garza left the game early rather than later.  The last thing Maddon wants to do is overwork his bullpen.

Who knows what is going on with Garza? It does not sound like him to go lose it all of a sudden. He can be counted on to give quality starts when he is out there.

On games like the Yankees and the Red Sox, he comes through.

It is understandable to ask if he is hurt or not. It is okay to be concerned about him.

When Maddon was asked if Garza was hurt, he denied that was the case. The Rays starter mimicked the same response. Still, something does not sound right.

If Garza struggles against the Yankees on Monday night at Yankees Stadium, no one can deny something is wrong physically.

The Twins rested Francisco Liriano several times this summer. Liriano’s arm was hindering him to pitch. Since several starts off, Liriano has been effective.

Maybe the Rays should take that approach with Garza, but they would be hard-pressed to do so.  After Thursday, the Rays are not having days off anymore this season. So much for that theory.

What can the Rays and Garza do now? Nothing. They have to hope he figures it out. That is the only the best case scenario.

It is easier said than done. No one flips the switch and become good all of a sudden.

Either a pitcher is great or he is out. When a starter does good or bad, those performances turn out to be an avalanche in a good or bad way.

The Rays can only hope this is just Garza being streaky, but stuff and pitching movement tell the story, and it does not paint a good one.

2010 Season Record: 86-52

The Yankees began the week tied with the Rays atop the AL East and were coming off a week in which they struggled.  But like the saying goes, “The great teams win when they have to.” and the Yankees did just that, reeling off an eight game winning streak.

In Game 1 the Yankees sent Dustin Moseley to the mound to oppose Oakland’s ace Trevor Cahill.  Moseley couldn’t make his way out of the 4th inning, but the Yankees hammered Cahill for eight earned runs in just four innings. The Yankees offense were led by the powerful bats of Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano and Marcus Thames, who combined to go 9 for 11 with 2 homers and 7 RBIs.  As a result the Bombers beat the A’s 11-5.

The Yankees potent offense kept the roll going in game 2.  Curtis Granderson, Nick Swisher, and Teixeira all went deep en route to a 9-3 victory.  Phil Hughes continued to get some of the best run support in the majors as he picked up his 16th win of the season.

Game 3 saw AJ Burnett show some signs of breaking out of his recent struggles.  Burnett allowed three earned runs in six innings struck out a season high eight batters.  The Bombers won the game 4-3 behind the continued dominance of Mark Teixeira’s bat.  The slugging first baseman went 3 for 4 with a double and 3 RBI.

In the finale of the four game series the duo of CC Sabathia and Curtis Granderson completed the Yankees sweep of Oakland.  Sabathia allowed only one hit in eight innings of work and shutout the boys from the bay.  Granderson wasn’t in the starting lineup, but when Nick Swisher left with an injury, he quickly put his stamp on the game with a pair of home runs.  Sabathia picked up his 19th victory as the Bombers rolled to a 5-0 triumph.

Player of the Week, Mark Teixeira

After the Oakland series the Yankees welcomed the Toronto Blue Jays to “The House That George Built.”  In the first game of the series, starter Ivan Nova struggled on the mound.  The rookie starter allowed three earned runs in only 4.2 innings of work.  However the Yankees bullpen and offense overcame Nova’s bad outing.  The Yankees lineup collected 11 hits and scored seven runs, three of them driven in by the red hot Granderson.  The Bombers picked up their 7th straight win win a 7-3 victory.

The next afternoon the Yankees offense put up another seven spot, but it took Marcus Thames’ 2-run home run in the 7th inning to snap a 5-5 tie.  Unfortunately, the win wasn’t a complete success.  Javier Vazquez who was given a second chance as a starter struggled.  The right-hander allowed all five earned runs in just 4.2 innings and did not qualify for the victory.  For the second straight game, however, the Yankees pen bailed out an ineffective starter- this time with 4.1 scoreless innings of relief.

The final game of the series saw the Yankees eight game winning streak come to an end as the Blue Jays pounced on starter Phil Hughes.  The neighbors to the north nailed Hughes for six runs in six innings and went on to a 7-3 win.  Despite the loss, the Yankees won their third straight series and maintained a 2 1/2 game lead over Tampa Bay in the AL East.

Pinstriped Positives:

Even though the Yankees lost the final game of the Blue Jays series, the Yankees lineup got a boost with the return of Alex Rodriguez.  The All-Star third baseman went 2-5 and picked up his 98th RBI of the season.

Andy Pettitte threw a mid-week bullpen session and then a controlled game on Saturday, and felt good after both occassions.  He’s scheduled to throw a minor league rehab game for Double-A Trenton on Wednesday, 9/8.

Negatives and Concerns:

The Yankees starting rotation is still in chaos.  CC Sabathia is definitely the ace of the staff but questions remain as to the rest of the rotation.   The Yankees MUST have a healthy Andy Pettitte if they stand a chance of repeating.  Phil Hughes has been  very inconsistent in the second half.  A.J. Burnett has been up and down all season, with more bad starts than good ones.  Javier Vazquez, Dustin Moseley, and Ivan Nova have either been a regular starter or a fill-in, but none has inspired extreme confidence.

What’s Next:

The Yankees will stay in New York for the first part of next week as they take on Buck Showalter’s revived

Baltimore Orioles in a three game set.  Then the Bombers will head to Texas for what could be a playoff preview with the Rangers.

John Fetter is a regular Yankees contributor for Baseball Digest.  He can be reached at jfetter@sportstalk88.com

Parallels—Every card has a silver parallel which come seeded one per pack.

Inserts—The easy to obtain inserts sets for this release are Award Winners with 30 cards, Domination with 30 cards, Total Production with 10 cards, Team Checklists with 30 cards and Total Topps with 20 cards.

Rookie cards—Biggest rookie card this set has is Dan Uggla since Topps was the first one to produce a card of him.  Other big names are Ian Kinsler and Matthew Kemp.

Autographs—This was the first Topps Total set to include autographs but they are a very tough pull.  So tough in fact you have a 15:1 chance of pulling a printing plate before you pull an autograph, a first for any product I’ve ever seen.  There are 7 autographs in the Topps Signatures series with the best ones being David Wright, Zack Greinke and Robinson Cano.  There are also supposed to be 10 Barry Bonds autographs floating around but I have never seen one.

The test of time— For the price, around $24 at online stores but I’ve seen boxes go for as low as $7 at auction sites, Topps Total is a fun buy—if you are a set builder.  Unless you get really lucky and pull a good printing plate or an auto you will not make money on this box, not even worth trying that route here.  If you’re trying to build a set you will do fine, insert sets can be finished in about two boxes worth of pulls, while the bigger set is 2-3 boxes and then some trading.  For a big challenge try to put together a complete set of silver parallels.

Next week I will be taking a look at the 2003 Fleer Tradition Update.

2010 Season Record: 77-47

After two weeks of mediocre play, the Yankees really needed to step up their play and that’s exactly what they did.  The Bomber’s went 5-2 on the home stand and managed to remain a game ahead of the Rays.

The week started on a sour note as the Yankees lost the series opener to the Detroit Tigers 3-1. Once again, the Yankees struggled against a pitcher they had not faced before.  This time around it was hard throwing Max Scherzer, who threw 6 innings of shutout ball, limited the Yankees to a pair of hits, and struck out 6.

The Yankees sent Javier Vazquez to the mound, but the pitcher’s dead arm and lack of velocity continued to fail him.  The right-hander was pulled without recording an out in the 5th inning.

The Yankees sent their ace, CC Sabathia to the mound in Game 2.  Sabathia had a rough start, allowing a home run on the first ball he threw to former Yankees prospect Austin Jackson.  But the big man, as he often does settled down and settled in.

The CY Young Award contender went 7 innings, allowed 2 earned runs and struck out 9 batters.  Both Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano hit home runs and the Yankees cruised to a 6-2 victory.

Game 3 quickly turned into a home run derby as Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano hit back to back jacks in the 1st inning to give the Bomber’s the early lead.  The Tigers answered the challenge with three home runs of their own, including a pair by that beast of a hitter Miguel Cabrera, but the Bomber’s offense proved to be too much.  Granderson outdid Jackson, the player he was dealt for, though and smacked a second home run in the Yankees 9-5 victory. Starting pitcher Dustin Moseley struggled, he allowed 4 earned runs in 5 innings, but stuck around long enough to pick up the victory.

In the series finale the Yankees continued their offensive assault on Detroit’s pitching staff.  Most of their damage came in the 6th inning when the Yankees put a 9 spot up on the board.  MVP candidate Robinson Cano stroked an RBI double and followed that up later on in the inning with a two run homer.  Phil Hughes also got the job done on the mound, by allowing only 2 earned runs over 6 innings of work. As a result he earned his 15th victory of the season.

Fresh off of taking 3 of 4 from the Tigers, the Yankees faced the AL West cellar dwelling Seattle Mariners.   Unfortunately for the Yankees they opened the series against the man who would be king.  Felix “The King” Hernandez that is.  The hard throwing right-hander dominated the Yankees for the third time this season (1 earned run allowed in 26 innings) and the M’s took the opener 6-0.   A.J. Burnett couldn’t built off his back to back good starts, giving up a pair of home runs to Russell Branyan and was charged with all 6 runs.

The Yankees held their collective breath and sent Javier Vazquez to the mound in Game 2.  Things went from bad to worse; Vazquez lasted just three official innings and was pulled after one batter in the 4th.  Luckily, the Pinstripe’s bullpen came in and stopped the bleeding and the Yankees offense took control.

Jorge Posada belted a home run and drove in two runs while Cano added a pair of hits and RBI.  However, the biggest hit came off the bat of rookie Eduardo Nunez who with one swing in the 7th inning picked up his 1st major league single, his 1st career RBI and put the Yankees ahead for good.  As a result the Bombers went on to a 9-5 win.

In the final game of the series, the Yankees once again called on their ace and once again he answered the call.  Sabathia dominated the Mariners with six shutout innings.  It was a performance that might have gone on longer if not for a lengthy rain delay, which caused him to be pulled from the game.  In earning his 17th win, Sabathia allowed just 3 hits and struck out 8 Mariners.  The Yankee’s offense also continued to dominate thanks in large part to Cano’s big bat.  The 2nd baseman had a huge day, belting a grand slam en route to a career high 6 RBI as the Yankees sailed to a 10-0 win.

Pinstriped Positives:

CC Sabathia continues to dominate this season, in his two wins this week he allowed only 2 earned runs in 13 innings of work.  Sabathia has compiled a 17-5 mark with a 3.02 ERA and is a solid pick to win the AL CY Young Award.

Robinson Cano’s offensive dominance has also continued.  In his last 10 games the All-Star second baseman is hitting .324 (12-37) with 4 homers and 14 RBI.

Austin Kearns has thrived in the New York spotlight.  In the 14 games he has worn the Pinstripes, Kearns is hitting .341 (14-41) with 2 home runs and 6 RBIs.

Negatives:

Nick Swisher’s hot bat has definitely cooled down as of late.  In his last 10 games the Yankees’ outfielder is hitting .242 (8-33) with no homers and only 3 RBI.

Derek Jeter continues to struggle and remains on pace to have his worst season of his career.  The Yankees’ Captain is hitting just .216 (8-37) in his last 10 games.

What’s Next:

After Sunday’s victory the Yankees stood atop the AL East, one game above the Tampa Rays, who aren’t going away.  The Yankees will now head for Toronto to face the Jays to start a six game road trip.  After a mid-week day off the Yankees travel to face the AL Central contending Chicago White Sox.

John Fetter is a regular Yankees contributor for Baseball Digest.  He can be reached at jfetter@sportstalk88.com.

Box breakdown—Each 2004 Bowman Sterling box has 6 packs with 5 cards each.  In a box you get 12 first year player cards, 6 veteran relic cards, 6 first year player autographs and 6 first year prospect autographs.  Each hobby box comes with a box loader that has either a black parallel, 1/1 red parallel or Bowman Originals autograph card inside.

Parallels—Each card has the following parallels:  refractors (numbered out of 199), black refractors (numbered out of 25 for autograph and autograph/game used combo cards and numbered out of 16 for first year cards and game used cards) and red refractors (true 1/1’s).

Inserts—The only insert set is the Bowman Originals autograph set which is found in the hobby box loaders.  This is a 46 card autograph set containing cards of Alex Rodriguez, Alfonso Soriano, Barry Bonds, Eric Chavez and Jose Reyes.  Cards are numbered out of 1 to 106.

Rookie cards—Solid rookie crop in this set.  The key names being Adam Wainwright, B.J. Upton, Conor Jackson, Carlos Quentin, David Wright, Delmon Young, Felix Hernandez, Homer Bailey, Robinson Cano, Phil Hughes and Scott Kazmir.

Autographs—I already mentioned the players in the Bowman Originals set.  Some of the better autos you can pull from the base set are Adam Wainwright, B.J. Upton, Carlos Quentin, David Wright, Delmon Young, Homer Bailey, Huston Street, Matt Bush and Robinson Cano.

The test of time—Very slick looking set and I love how they incorporated the autographs and game used cards into the base set.  This makes pulling a rookie card a little more special.  You also have to like the breakdown of the box itself, every pack is loaded.  Online stores have these way boxes for the absurd price of around $275 a box.  If you do some searching you can find them for around $150 to $200 a box on auction sites.  If you can find them for closer to the $150 price you have a great chance at breaking even on an average box.  If you get lucky and pull a low numbered refractor of a star player or get a Bowman Originals autograph of a star you are going to do very well on this box.  Paying over $200 though and your odds of breaking even are going to be very tough.

If you can find this box at a solid price I say go for it.  The cards trade well and a star player still sells well today from this set.  Many other boxes for $150-200 do not give you this much bang for the buck.

Next week I will be taking a look at the 2007 Bowman’s Best release.

2010 Season Record: 66-38

The Bombers opened the week on the road with a four game series against Cleveland before they traveled to Florida to take on the 2nd place Rays in a huge three game set.

The Yankees took three of four from the Tribe, outscoring them 28-10 in the process.

In Game 1, New York sent Javier Vazquez, arguably their best pitcher over the past couple of months, out to the mound.  The veteran right-hander did not disappoint.  Vazquez went 7 innings, allowed two earned runs en route to a 3-2 Yankees win.  Nick Swisher’s solo home run and Curtis Granderson’s 2-run shot provided the offense.

CC Sabathia took the mound against his former team in game 2, but came out on the wrong end of a 4-1 decision.  The Yankees ace didn’t have his best stuff, but battled (2 ER) through 7 innings.  Sabathia got little support from his teammates, however, as the Yankees were held to five hits and committed a pair of costly errors.

The following night the Bombers showed how dominate they could be against one of the better pitchers in baseball.  Cleveland sent All-Star Fausto Carmona to the mound, but the mighty Yankee lineup beat him to a pulp.

The Indians’ ace was pulled with two outs in the third inning after he allowed seven earned runs and 10 hits.  The stars for the Bombers’ offense included Robinson Cano, Mark Teixeira, A-Rod, Granderson, and Brett Gardner, who collected two hits each.

AJ Burnett took advantage of the run support, picking up his third win in the month of July.  Burnett struck out seven in 6.1 innings and did not allow an earned run.

In the series finale, the Yankees sent Dustin Moseley to the mound for his first start of the season.  After a shaky start, Moseley pitched extremely well, allowing a single earned run in six innings.  The Bombers gave him plenty of run support, blowing the game open with a 7-run 7th inning.

Cano hit his 20th home run of the season, while A-Rod’s 3 RBI gave him a team high 85.  Granderson continued to swing a hot bat since the All-Star break as he contributed a pair of solo home runs.

After their successful series against Cleveland, the Yankees traveled to the Tampa/St. Pete area to take on the red hot Rays.  The opener saw a strong performance from Yankees starter Phil Hughes.  The 23-yr old was cruising along until one bad pitch in the 7th inning.  It resulted in a 3-run home run by Matt Joyce and turned a 2-0 lead into a 3-2 loss to Rays starter Wade Davis.

The middle game of the series saw the Yankees bring out the heavy lumber.  Cano’s tape measure shot in the 9th inning was his 21st home run of the season and gave the Yankees a 5-4 victory.  Swisher and Teixeira homered as well as the Yankees overcame a shaky outing by Vazquez.

In the rubber game of the series, “Big Game” James Shields lived up to his nickname.   The Tampa starter didn’t allow an earned run over seven innings and struck out 11.   Sabathia surrendered three runs in 6.1 innings and the Bombers dropped the finale 3-0.  The series win moved the Rays to within one game of the Yankees in the AL East.

Pinstriped Positives:

It’s time to pay some respect to a Yankee who has done nothing but his job for his whole career. That’s right I am talking about Mr. Automatic- Mariano Rivera. Mo has been turning in yet another amazing season- a 0.93 ERA, 3-1 record and 22 saves in 24 opportunities.

The Captain, Derek Jeter, has started to swing the bat well again. In his last 10 games Jeter is 13 for 47, which is good for a .310 average.

Curtis Granderson has also been wielding a hot bat in his last 10 games, going  is 9 for 31 (.290) with 3 HR and 9 RBI.

Negatives:

A-Rod has really been struggling as of late; in his last 10 games he is 6 for 38 (.158).  His home run drought since hitting career #599 certainly has to be weighing on his mind.

What’s Next:

The Yankees will now head back home to take on the Blue Jays for 3 games and then have a much needed day off.  Then it’s time to face off against the hated Red Sox, who are in striking distance of 1st place (6.5 games back).

John Fetter recently joined Baseball Digest as a New York Yankees contributor.  He can be reached at jfetter@sportstalk88.com.

Good thing he is just a guy with an opinion not a baseball manager or a president of a team’s baseball operations. If he ran or manage the Rays, they would not be the team they are today.

Since the post All-Star Break, Shields won three straight games prior to his start against the Yankees Sunday afternoon. His ERA was at 4.88 despite the winning streak, but disregard that for a second. Shields has gone deep in games, and he found the location to throw strikes in those three victories. Those are things Shields could not do in the first few months of the season.

Sunday’s performance showed Shields is back to being the bulldog pitcher the Rays expect him to be. He hit his spots well, and the Yankees had a hard time of finding a way to disrupt his change-up.

Shields started off well by pitching inside to Derek Jeter couple of times to start the game, getting newly acquired Lance Berkman out on two pitches and striking out Mark Teixeira with a heavy diet of fastball.

In the second inning, Shields ran into trouble. He gave up couple of hits after getting Robinson Cano out, and just like that, Shields was in a jam with runners at first and third.  Anyone thought the Yankees were going to take the  lead with two men on and one out?

No one could have blamed others for feeling that way, but Shields had other ideas. He struck out Curtis Granderson with a change-up, and Austin Kearns popped up meekly to end the threat.  This was the only opportunity the Yankees would get against Shields. After that, he shut the Yankees down for the rest of the day.

Shields was locked in from the third inning by being ahead of the count. At one point, he struck out six in a row.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi had a secret weapon waiting for Shields, and he used it in the seventh inning with one on and two outs. After intending to give Alex Rodriguez a day off just to get his mind off the home run milestone he is pursuing, here was Rodriguez with a chance not only to get that 600th home run of his career, but to give the momentum for the Yankees.  Instead, Rodriguez represented the tenth strikeout for Shields.

Shields could have went eight innings, but with his pitch count approaching 120,  Maddon elected to end his day with 116 pitches. The Rays starter finished the day by allowing four hits, striking out  11 and walking one in 7 1/3 innings.

The best way to describe this is dominance.

It was a vintage performance from Shields to say the least. It brought back memories from couple of years ago when he dominated the AL East teams.

Maddon mentioned this was the best performance he ever saw out of Shields. Maybe the Rays manager was caught up in the moment, but it’s hard to believe this was Shields’ best performance ever. Shields’ best performance came when he pitched a shutout against the Red Sox at Fenway Park couple of years ago in April. He blew the Red Sox away by throwing fastballs at every Red Sox hitter.

Shields’ recent starts have been encouraging, and if he can duplicate more performances like Sunday, the Rays starting rotation gets even better. The Rays have a good starting trio in David Price, Matt Garza and Jeff Niemann. Shields makes it better with his  postseason experience. He was the team’s best postseason pitcher couple of years ago.

With him, it’s all about confidence. If he can find his command of his pitches, he can go on a roll like he did Sunday afternoon.

Comparing his starts in May to his recent starts, there’s a change in demeanor. Shields was frustrated on the mound when he struggled. He was intimidated by the hitters at the time, but lately, that has not been the case. On Sunday, it was his turn to intimidate the Yankees.

It was hard to believe Shields would get back to the level he was two years ago. He looked done going back to last year. Teams figured him out by either homering off him or hitting lines drives off him, which inflated his ERA at either four or five. His fastball looked dead, and that’s his bread and butter pitch.

There was reasons to be concerned about him.

To Shields’ credit, his strikeouts were still there despite his struggles. He felt it was a matter of time until he got it together.  He finally mixed his change-up and fastball together, and that helped him to be successful again.

After seeing him in July and Sunday, it’s okay to call him Big Games James again.

2010 Season Record: 58-33

On July 11th the Yankees lost their legendary public address announcer Bob Sheppard.  Sheppard called games for the Yankees for over 50 years starting in 1951 and ending in 2007.

Sheppard announced lineups that were filled with current and future Hall of Famers  like Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Reggie Jackson, Dave Winfield, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez to just name a few.  For generations of Yankees fans Sheppard was the voice of Yankee Stadium.  The man who greeted them with his iconic voice to thousands of games.

Unfortunately, tragedy struck the Yankees again just a few days later on July 13th when the legendary owner of the Yankees passed away.  George Steinbrenner became “The Boss” of the Bombers after he purchased the team with a group of investors from CBS in 1973.

Steinbrenner, through his hirings and firings of managers such as Billy Martin and his signing of big name free agents such as Catfish Hunter and Reggie Jackson, quickly changed the way the sports world viewed him and other owners.  The Yankees’ family will tell you that Mr. Steinbrenner did what ever he could to put a winner on the field and most of the time he did.  Steinbrenner famously stated that winning was second only to breathing and that attitude saved the struggling Yankees and turned them back into perennial contenders.

After the All-Star break the Yankees returned to the Stadium to take on the 2nd place Tampa Bay Rays in a big AL East showdown.  Game 1 was full of emotion as the organization remembered their fallen duo.

Perhaps it was the time off and/or the tragic losses, but the Yankees got off to a slow start and found themselves in a 3-1 hole.  The game and emotioin began to change in the 6th inning when Robinson Cano launched a bomb into the night and Jorge Posada followed with a home run of his own to tie the game at three apiece.

The Rays took the lead back in the 7th, but then Nick Swisher took over.  The first time All-Star hit a game tying homer in the 8th inning and then followed that up with a walk off RBI single in the 9th inning for a 5-4 win.   And of course, he received a pie to close out his night.

AJ Burnett took the ball in Game 2 but basically gave the ball right back after facing just two batters in the 3rd inning.  Burnett had thrown a temper tantrum before taking the mound in the 3rd, cutting both his hands in a fit of temper.  The Rays steamed rolled right over the Bombers’ pen en route to a 10-5 win.

In the final game of the series the Yankees sent Andy Pettitte to the mound to face Tampa’s ace David Price.  However, the much anticipated pitcher’s duel was not meant to be as both pitchers were hit hard and hit early.

Unfortunately for the Yankees things got worse before they got better.  Pettitte was forced from the game after he injured his groin with one out in the 3rd inning.  The Yankees offense would pick up the slack though.

The Pinstripes put a number 4 on the board in the 5th inning to drive Price from the game.  The Yankees offense continued to pile it on, including career home run #598 for Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees beat the Rays  9-5.

The series win put the Yankees 2.5 games ahead of Tampa Bay in the AL East race.

Pinstriped Positives:

The Yankees first place standing shows just how balanced the team is. The Bombers’ offense has never really fired on all cylinders this year.   The Yankees top two power hitters Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira are both hitting below .275 which is much lower than their career averages of .304 and .287 respectively, but signs of life have begun to emerge.

Hitting coach Kevin Long found a glitch in Teixeira’s swing from the left side of the plate.  Since making a correction, Tex has hit over .300 the last dozen games and his power has returned.

A-Rod has been hitting the cover off the ball and has gone back to being an intimididating run producer.

Negatives:

The injury bug has struck the Yankees again and this time it bit All-Star pitcher Andy Pettitte.  Pettitte suffered a Grade 1 strain of his groin after a 2-1 pitch to Tampa Bay’s Kelly Shoppach.  The left-hander was pulled from the game and is expected to miss 4-6 weeks.  This comes at a really bad time for the Bombers when you consider that two of their starters, AJ Burnett and Phil Hughes, have been struggling as of late.  Hopefully the Yanks will do what good teams do best which is finding a way to win and stay atop the AL East.

What’s Next:

The Yankees continue their nine game home stretch this week as they play host to the Angels and the Royals.

John Fetter recently joined Baseball Digest as a New York Yankees contributor.  He can be reached at jfetter@sportstalk88.com.

The Yankees celebrated Steinbrenner’s accomplishments by doing a video montage of him. After the montage, the fans gave a heartfelt standing ovation. Mariano Rivera put roses in home plate to honor Steinbrenner, and Derek Jeter spoke about the bombastic Yankees owner and the soft-spoken public address announcer.

Steinbrenner would have been proud of the festivities, and he would have been proud of the way his team played in their 5-4 victory over the Rays. Steinbrenner always talked about how he is proud of his team when they don’t give up. That was the case of last night’s game. The Yankees trailed for the early part of the game, but they managed to cut the deficit, tie it, and win it in the end.

The Rays helped pave the way for the Yankees to make this comeback possible. The Rays could have put the game away if they did not strand runners at third several times during the middle innings. It proved to be costly in the end.

There was a feeling the Yankees were going to make Rays pay for not maximizing their opportunity, and it proved to be true. They tied the game at 3 in the sixth inning on solo home runs by Robinson Cano and Jorge Posada. After the Rays took a 4-3 lead in the seventh inning, the Yankees tied it at 4 when NIck Swisher homered off Rays setup man Joaquin Benoit in the eighth inning.

From there, the Yankees were not going to be denied. David Robertson and Mariano Rivera shut down the Rays hitters, and the Yankees celebrated with a victory on Swisher’s single in the ninth inning.

Here’s what the Rays or any baseball team must understand when they play the Yankees. When the opportunity is there to end the game, the Yankees opponent must finish off the Yankees. They are only asking for trouble by not getting it done. That was the case for the Rays last night.

Give CC Sabathia credit for pitching his team out of a jam several times, but championship teams know how to end it when the opportunity is there. As good as the Rays are,  they are not ready to be a championship team just yet. The Rays fail whenever it’s time to execute with runners in scoring position.

Too many times, the Rays tend to let the opposing pitcher off the hook whenever he is in a jam. Friday night’s game was a typical example of that. This may work against the bad teams, but against the Yankees and the Red Sox, it becomes an epic fail.

The Yankees are the opposite in this situation. Let’s say the Yankees took a 3-1 lead and they had a chance to end the game in the fifth inning with runners at second and third or with the bases loaded. Know what they would have done? They would make the pitcher pay for his mistakes, and end it right there.

That’s what the Yankees do. They find a way to win even if it looks like they are out of it or if a pitcher overpowers them with stuff. They are the only team that knows how to beat elite pitchers in baseball. It’s no wonder why they won a championship last year, and why they can do it again.

Talk about buying talent, but it takes a special team to come together and know how to win games. The Yankees have a knack of doing just that. They did that during the mid-to-late nineties, and they discovered that magic back last year.

Let’s tell it like it is. The Yankees outsmarted the Rays. They knew how to get the home runs, and they knew how to put the runners in a position to score.

This was a disappointing loss to say the least. When the Rays have their worst pitcher starting in this series and he pitched well until he lost it  in the sixth inning, this is one the Rays should not have let get away. It’s easy to go blame James Shields for giving up home runs to Cano and Posada in tying the game, but it’s not Shields’ fault that he had to pitch with no room for error in the sixth inning.

Maybe Shields go eight innings if this game was a 5-1 game. The Rays had an opportunity to pick Shields up when the game was tied at 3. They did, but they should have gotten more than one run in that seventh inning.

Whenever a team wins the first game of the series, they have a better chance of winning the series. Now, the Rays need to find a way to win today or else they could be in a position to get swept on Sunday. If the Rays get swept, the Yankees don’t have to pay attention to what the Rays are doing anymore with a nice cushion lead in the division.

The Yankees talk about how they respect the Rays publicly, but privately, they look at the Rays as a cute little team. That’s not meant to be a compliment. The Yankees don’t respect anyone. Why should they? Champions never pay attention to other teams. They are arrogant to think if they play their game, they are going to win.

The Yankees earned the right to act that way. When a team wins many championships, there’s no reason to fear the other team. Until teams figure out a way to beat the Yankees consistently, the Yankees will go use that approach.

It’s up to the Rays to change that perception. So far, they are 3-3 against the Bronx Bombers, but it’s not going to make the Yankees fear them. Even if the Rays went 6-0 against the Yankees so far this season, the Yankees will not change their approach.

For that to change, the Rays need to beat them more often than not. Last night was winnable. A message could have been sent that the Rays are a team the Yankees need to take seriously.

Just like that, the Yankees have a chance now to take the series or get a sweep. That team is finally healthy, and most of their players are peaking at the right time. The second half is where a team distance themselves from the competition in the division.

It’s up to the Rays to make it a race. They get two more cracks at it this weekend.

Here’s hoping the Rays know how to pad in some runs in case they have a lead. No lead is ever safe with the Yankees.

The Rays had an opportunity to show they can be in the Yankees’ level, but on this night, they showed the Yankees they have ways to go until they reach that level.