The Captain's Blog

So, this is how the other half lives. With both Mariano Rivera and Joba Chamberlain unavailable in the bullpen, the Yankees were forced to sweat out what otherwise would have been a rather comfortable win. Once again, Joe Girardi’s curious handling of the bullpen put the game in jeopardy, but he eventually came to his senses and summoned Alfredo Aceves to close out the victory.

Orioles' outfielder Lou Montanez is unable to haul in Mark Teixeira's two-run double in the fourth. The two runs helped provide the Yankees' margin victory.

The Yankees needed several innings from their bullpen because Andy Pettitte was only able to go five innings. Pettitte’s early departure resulted from minor stiffness in his left tricep, which according to Girardi was first experienced during his last start against Chicago. Pettitte became the latest Yankees to head for an MRI, which has cast several clouds over the team’s otherwise sunny 19-8 start.

With the exception of a slight hiccup in the fourth inning, when he walked Nolan Reimold to force in a run, Pettitte appeared to be in fine form. His velocity appeared normal and he was able to throw his curve for strikes when needed.  As he has done all season, Pettitte plowed through the opposition with efficiency, which allowed the Yankees to build a 6-1 lead before his departure.

Solo homeruns by Nick Johnson and Nick Swisher in the first and second innings, respectively, gave the Yankees an early 2-0 lead and also forced Orioles starter David Hernandez out of the strike zone. Hernandez spent the rest of his outing pitching into trouble, and eventually wound up surrendering six runs.

Pitching was not the main culprit for the Orioles. Lou Montanez, a last minute replacement in CF for Adam Jones, was unable to make two plays that helped the Yankees to build their lead. In particular, Montanez tentatively pursued Mark Teixeira’s fourth inning fly ball to deep right center, turning an inning ending catch into a two-run double. The Orioles infield defense, which essentially featured four players out of position, kicked the ball around, just as they had all series. Ty Wigginton’s and Garrett Atkins’ limited range as well as Miguel Tejada’s inability to play a bunt directly contributed to two of the Yankees runs.

Despite playing poorly, the Orioles chipped away at the deficit with three homeruns late in the game. Sergio Mitre, who was solid in his stint of 2 1/3 innings, gave up the first blast to Wigginton in the eighth, and then David Robertson was victimized for the other two when Matt Wieters and Nolan Reimold went back-to-back in the ninth. With the lead narrowed to 7-5, Girardi next called on Boone Logan, but he was only able to record one out while walking the tying runs on base. Finally, Girardi turned to the steady hand of Aceves, who retired the dangerous Wigginton on a fly ball to right.

• Andy Pettitte is now 27-6 lifetime against the Orioles. Only Whitey Ford (30) has won more games against the Orioles since their move to Baltimore in 1954.
• Alfredo Aceves, who was born in Mexico, celebrated Cinco de Mayo with his second career save. Aceves’ other save was earned on July 5, 2009 against Toronto.
• With three hits, Nick Johnson’s batting average surged 37 points to .171.
• After starting the season on fire, Robinson Cano has now been held hitless in three of his last five games.

Andy Pettitte takes the mound as the Yankees look to sweep the Orioles and wrap up their six game home stand on a winning note. Pettitte is coming off his weakest outing of the year, but that only speaks to the brilliance of the previous four. Pettitte’s hot start has left him with a career low ERA of 2.12 after five starts and the chance to start the year at 4-0 for the first time.

The Orioles’ hopes of grabbing a game rest on the right arm of David Hernandez, who has yet to earn a victory this season. Although he hasn’t had a particularly bad start, Hernandez has been plagues by high pitch counts, a problem that is likely to be exacerbated by facing the Yankees.

Once again, the Yankee lineup is without Jorge Posada, who expects to make his return on Friday in Boston. Randy Winn gets the nod in LF versus the righty, solidifying what appears to be straight platoon with Marcus Thames. With the addition of Golson to the roster, however, Girardi does now have the flexibility to pinch hit for either Winn or Thames in the right spot.

• Alex Rodriguez next home run will tie Frank Robinson for seventh on the all-time list.
• When he takes the field in the first inning, Derek Jeter will be playing in his 2,164th game as a Yankee, tying him with Lou Gehrig for second place on the all-time franchise list.
• Andy Pettitte’s career record against the Orioles is 26-6 with a 3.60 ERA.  Along with Sabathia and Burnett, the Yankees’ starters in this series have combined record of 48-9 against Baltimore.
• The Yankees have won 24 of their last 30 games against the Orioles

Tonight’s game was really a tale of two half innings. In the top of the third, AJ Burnett yielded an infield single and a walk before throwing Cesar Izturis’ sacrifice bunt down the right field line. With one run in, no outs and men on second and third, the stage was set for a Burnett implosion. Instead of caving in and losing his composure, however, Burnett responded by striking out the next three batters. More impressively, he recorded all three strikeouts with his curveball. In the past, Burnett has been prone to overthrowing when things don’t go his way, but this time he used the Baltimore batters’ aggressiveness against them.

Francisco Cervelli lays down a sacrifice bunt. Cervelli had an all around game that also included three hits, a tumbling catch and several blocked balls in the dirt (Photo: Getty Images)

Burnett’s Houdini act was vital for the Yankees because rookie Brian Matusz was pitching well against them. Unlike his last start, Matusz had much better command of his fastball and change-up, and therefore was able to keep the Yankee lineup off balance. Still, the Yankees were able to tie the score in the bottom of the third after Francisco Cervelli tripled and scored on Ramiro Pena’s groundout. In all fairness to Matusz, however, Adam Jones misplayed Cervelli’s liner, turning a single into a three-base hit.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Matusz faced his half inning of reckoning when a leadoff walk to Brett Gardner and bloop single by Cervelli set up a bunting situation. Just as Burnett did in the third, Matusz fielded the attempted sacrifice and then tossed into right field. Also like Burnett, Matusz was able to bear down. He next retired Derek Jeter and Nick Swisher on pop ups, but the rookie couldn’t seal the deal. Instead, he walked Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez, which gave the Yankees a third run.

Once gifted with the lead, Burnett went right back to pounding the strike zone with his fastball. Even though he probably had his best curve of the year (five of his eight strikeouts were on curve balls), he still only threw it about 20% of the time (over the last two years, Burnett has thrown 30% curves). By being able to command the fastball, Burnett once again kept his pitch count low, which allowed him to once again pitch into the 8^th inning. Continue Reading »

AJ Burnett and Brain Matusz hook up in yet another series rematch. Last time around, Burnett earned the victory with eight shutout innings, but Matusz pitched well in defeat. The Yankees can probably expect to see a better performance this time around.

The lineup features Derek Jeter’s first game as DH as well as Marcus Thames return to LF. Jorge Posada remains on the sidelines with his strained right calf. According to the Yankees, Posada remains day-to-day with Friday being an early target. Mariano Rivera, who is nursing a soar left side, also remains unavailable in today’s game. Rivera threw a bullpen session today without any discomfort, but Girardi’s initial plan is to give him one more day off (update: According to ESPN1050, Rivera is now available for tonights game).

To supplement the Yankees depleted roster, Greg Golson was promoted from Triple-A Scranton. Golson, a right handed hitting center fielder who will provide outfield depth, took the place of Mark Melancon.

• A.J. Burnett is 10-2 lifetime with a 4.76 ERA against the Orioles.
• Burnett is averaging 6 2/3 innings per start so far this season. Excluding Javier Vazquez, Yankees starters have averaged 6.715 innings per start.
• Alex Rodriguez remains one HR behind Frank Robinson for 7^th place on the all-time list, while Derek Jeter needs one 2B to bypass Don Mattingly for sole possession of third place on the franchise leader board.
• The Yankees have won 23 of their last 29 games against the Orioles.