The Captain's Blog

A young right hander throws seven shutout innings to out duel  a struggling veteran who put forth his best outing of the season. Where have we heard that before? In the second game of the day/night twin bill, Phil Hughes was the author of that familiar story line as the Yankees turned the tables on the Tigers with their third shutout of the season.

Joba Chamberlain attempts a shovel pass to Mark Teixeira at first. Although replays showed otherwise, the play resulted in an infield single for Austin Jackson (Photo: AP)

After being held scoreless in game one of the doubleheader, the Yankees quickly manufactured a run in the first inning when Alex Rodriguez drove home Brett Gardner, who had singled and then stolen second. That run would be all the Yankees would need because Phil Hughes was dominant once again.

Perhaps the only ball hit hard off Hughes was Miguel Cabrera’s lead off double in the second inning. After giving up the two bagger, Hughes responded by striking out the next three batters: the first two on hellacious curves and the last on a fastball. The only other time the Tigers would threaten was when they loaded the bases with one out in the fourth inning, but once again Hughes responded with a strikeout of Alex Avila before Don Kelly popped up to end the inning. Hughes would then retire the next six batters he faced before pitching around two hits in the seventh.

While Hughes was setting the Tigers down, the Yankees weren’t doing much better off Jeremy Bonderman. Just as they did in the first, the Yankees manufactured a second run in the third when Derek Jeter walked, stole second and then scored on Mark Teixeira’s seeing-eye single. Otherwise, the offense was just as dormant as in the first two games of the series.

With only a slim 2-0 lead in the eight, Joe Girardi turned the game over to Joba Chamberlain, who once again exhibited a mid-90s fastball and sharp breaking slider. After allowing a one-out infield single to Austin Jackson on a ball that glanced off his chest (a replayed showed that Chamberlain’s diving shovel pass to Teixeira actually beat Jackson to the bag), Chamberlain slammed the door on the inning by getting Damon to ground out and Ordonez to strike out swinging on a nasty slider.

As Mariano Rivera waited to notch his first save (and appearance) since April 30, the Yankees finally broke out of their mini-slump with a six run outburst. To be fair, the rally, which started when Phil Coke hit Robinson Cano with a pitch, was mostly composed of bloops and bleeders. In fact, the only ball struck particularly well was Arod’s double off of rookie Alfredo Figaro, who was making his major league debut.

Despite the now bloated 8-0 lead, Mariano still came on to close out the game and looked as if he hadn’t missed a day. After 12 pitches, 10 of which were strikes, the game was over and the Yankees had salvaged the split.

• Phil Hughes is the youngest Yankee pitcher to begin a season at 5-0 since Whitey Ford started off 9-0 in 1950.
• With seven shutout innings, Hughes lowered his ERA to 1.38, good for best in the American League.
• Nick Swisher was removed from the game after the seventh inning with tightness in his left bicep. The injury is not considered serious.
• Before the game, the Yankees announced that they had inked right handed pitcher Tim Redding to a minor league contract and assigned him to Scranton. Redding previously pitched one game for the Yankees in 2005. In that game, Redding surrendered six runs to the Red Sox in only one inning of work.
• In the Yankees six-run ninth, Greg Golson recorded his first major league hit on a blooper to center field.
• Mariano Rivera’s appearance was his first in May. The 11 days between appearances was the sixth longest inactive stretch in Rivera’s career.

The Yankees look to avoid the sweep behind Phil Hughes and another make shift lineup. In seven starts to date, Hughes has given up two runs or fewer in six. With the way the offense has been scuffling, he may need to be that good once again.

Facing the Yankees in the nightcap will be Jeremy Bonderman, who hasn’t recorded a win since his first start of the season. The Yankees shouldn’t be too heartened by Bonderman’s struggles, however, because game one starter Rick Porcello had a 7.50 ERA before throwing seven shutout innings.

Further tempering the mood for a big offensive night is another compromised lineup being used by Joe Girardi. Instead of DHing Jorge Posada, the Yankees manager has instead opted to give him the night off. Derek Jeter will occupy the DH slot, which means Ramiro Pena will once again be penciled into the nine hole. Pena, who stranded six runners in the first game, will be joined at the bottom of the lineup by Marcus Thames and Francisco Cervelli. The decision to start Thames is particularly curious because Bonderman is a right handed pitcher. In other words, the Yankees defense will be exposed in LF without the benefit of Thames’ platoon advantage.

With the specter of Justin Verlander looming on Thursday afternoon, the Yankees face their first “big game” of the season. Riding a long losing streak into a difficult stretch of games is not the best way to go, especially now that the Tuesday rainout has all but ensured that Sergio Mitre will get another start.

Albeit in a losing effort, Javier Vazquez’ return to the rotation was a success. Unlike his past failed efforts, Vazquez established his fastball in the early going and then kept coming back to it. In total, he threw 59% fastballs (57 of his 97 pitches), which was a significant step up from the 50% rate he had exhibited over his previous starts. His velocity was still lacking, but Vazquez did seem more confident in the pitch, and perhaps that is why he was able to exhibit better command.

Jose Valverde and the Tigers marched past the Yankees for the second straight game (Photo: AP).

Vazquez’ only hiccup occurred in the sixth inning, when leadoff hits by Austin Jackson and Johnny Damon preceded an RBI ground out by Magglio Ordonez and a run scoring single by Miguel Cabrera. Each of the hits in the inning was yielded on an off speed pitch (curve or change), while all three outs resulted from contact made on a fastball. It will probably take more than one start, but the Yankee brain trust needs to drive this point home. Still, by giving up only two runs in eight innings, Vazquez exceeded any reasonable expectations. If he can maintain a similar approach, there is no reason why he can’t be a productive member of the rotation.

With one problem seemingly on the way toward being solved, the Yankees offense has cropped up as a concern. Whether by accident or design, batter after batter in the lineup swung early and often in the count, which allowed Rick Porcello to pitch seven innings. In his previous six starts, Porcello has pitched through the fifth inning only once, but against the Yankees he looked on top of his game.

The Yankees did, however, have a few scoring chances, but each time Ramiro Pena was retired to turn back the threats. In total, Pena stranded six runners, including a bases loaded situation in the second inning, echoing Monday’s game when Randy Winn, the ninth batter in that game, left seven men on base. The only other real scoring threat occurred in the third inning when Brennan Boesch made a leaping catch at the wall on Alex Rodriguez’ opposite field drive to right.

After Porcello left the game, the Yankees were only able to muster one walk against Ryan Perry and Jose Valverde, and thus were once again forced to bear witness to the theatrical gyrations of the Tigers closer.

Over the last two games, the Yankees offense has started to crack under the weight of recent injuries. Nick Johnson and Curtis Granderson are not due back anytime soon, so unless reinforcements are on the way, the rest of the lineup will have to pick up the slack. In particular, the Yankees need Derek Jeter to revert to his more selective self and resume getting on base at a more normal rate. Without Jeter setting the table, the Yankees offense seems sure to stagnate. Hopefully the Captain can turns things around in the nightcap as the Yankees seek to avoid a sweep.

• By losing the first two games to Detroit, the Yankees failed to win a series for only the second time in 11 tries.
• The Yankees were shutout for the first time all season. It was also the first time the Yankees failed to score a run since September 4, 2009 against the Blue Jays and Roy Halladay.
• The last time the Yankees were shutout by the Tigers was in a 16-0 loss on August 27, 2007. In total, the Tigers have now pitched 54 shutouts against the Yankees.

After much ado, Javier Vazquez makes his long anticipated return to the Yankees rotation. And, to honor the occasion, the Yankees and Tigers have decided to play two games.

In the first game of a split doubleheader, Vazquez will face off against Tigers’ righty Rick Porcello, who has been struggling in his own right. Porcello has yielded at least five runs in each of his last four outings and pitched through the fifth inning only once. He’s the Tigers’ problem, however. The Yankees have had their hands full trying to diagnosis the reason for Vazquez diminished stuff and declining performance. During his hiatus from the rotation, Vazquez worked on mechanics with pitching coach Dave Eiland, so you can be sure the Yankees will be watching each pitch closely. One early indicator of how much progress has been made should be how hard and how often Vazquez throws his fastball. If he can establish that pitch early, Vazquez could allay the concerns that have surrounded his every start.

Some early runs might also go a long way toward helping Vazquez settle back into the flow. To bolster the Yankees’ dwindling bench, the team recalled Greg Golson, who takes the roster spot of Alfredo Aceves (15-day DL). Golson’s arrival will allow the Yankees to interchange Winn and Thames during a game without sacrificing defense in the late innings. Regardless, with the lack of depth apparent, the Yankees will need the big boys in the middle of the lineup to make up the difference.

For the first time since suffering a recent spate of injuries, the Yankees lack of depth finally came back to bite them. With Andy Pettitte watching from the bench, the Yankees were forced to send Sergio Mitre and his career ERA of 5.49 to the mound in his place. While Mitre was not awful, he wasn’t very good, as Girardi and others suggested in the post game. For some reason, Mitre has often been described as unlucky, usually by people who point to his FIP, but each time he winds up pitching to an ERA around six. Last night was no different, so at some point you have to shoot the messenger.

Joel Zumaya's heat warms up the cold Detroit night. Zumaya threw 19 pitches clocked at 100mph or faster in his outing against the Yankees (Photo: AP).

In the first inning, a throwing error by Arod could have bailed Mitre out of trouble, but then again, it did take a fine play to glove the hard hit ground ball by Miguel Cabrera. Mitre then proceeded to give up a two run hit to Brennan Boesch, which put the Yankees in an early hole. Mitre wound up giving up three runs over 4 1/3 innings, including a HR to old friend Johnny Damon, before giving way to David Robertson.

To be sure, all the blame shouldn’t be placed on Mitre. In three innings against Tigers’ starter Brad Thomas, the Yankees had every opportunity to open up a big lead. Thomas threw more than half of his 68 pitches for balls, yet somehow escaped with only three walks and two runs yielded. The Yankees only runs off Thomas came thanks to another May HR by Mark Teixeira.

With both starting pitchers gone before the end of the fifth, the game turned into a battle of bullpens (and the managers using them). For the Yankees, David Robertson was able to stabilize things with 1 2/3 innings of impressive shutout relief, while Eddie Bonine kept the Yankees off the board for 2 1/3 innings. Bonine owes his unblemished line to Jim Leyland, however, because the Tigers manager intelligently diagnosed that the sixth inning was the right time to bring in his “8th inning” guy. Unencumbered by the same formulaic thinking that has cost the Yankees a game or two this season, Leyland brought Joel Zumaya and his 100mph fastball into the game to face Marcus Thames, who was batting with one out and runners on first and third. Normally, the situation would have cried out for a lefty pinch hitter, but the Yankees had none forthcoming. Instead, Zumaya simply overpowered Thames, inducing a pop-up that stranded the runner on third. After walking Gardner, Zumaya then easily retired Randy Winn. The aborted rally not only kept the Yankees off the board, but exposed their frightening lack of depth, something that would come to the forefront again later in the game. Continue Reading »