It’s DJ Mitchell day.

Raul Ibanez won’t be the emergency catcher.  Girardi will just lose the DH.

I love Russell Martin, but as the DH? That’s high-larious.

You folks see Albert Pujols melting down in LA?

Mickey Hatcher tells reporters about how great Pujols was in a meeting to instill confidence in his teammates that they can get past their April slump. “The positive things that are being said ... this clubhouse is not separating, it’s bonding more than ever,” Hatcher said. “I tell them, ‘The magic can start today.’ I refuse to do it any other way.”

Pujols’ response? To get pissed off at Hatcher for saying what went on in the meeting.

I mean, I guess the argument is that the secrecy of the meeting should be sacrosanct or something, but seriously, dude? Why air your grievance to reporters?

Girardi will just lose the DH.

No.  He’s going to pinch run for Martin with CC in the sixth, which means he won’t have the option.

I really hope that one day the A-Rod re-signing will end up looking brilliant compared to the Pujols signing.

YankeesWFAN : FYI. Raul Ibanez would be emergency catcher. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” he said. Came up as catcher in SEA org. 31 minutes ago

Could have sworn Iguanez came up more in Seattle than 31 minutes ago - it already seems an eternity he’s been on NY.
/ducks, running out.

I really hope that one day the A-Rod re-signing will end up looking brilliant compared to the Pujols signing.

I have to believe that there are doctors who can make this happen.
Like the ones who operated on Steve Austin.

No.  He’s going to pinch run for Martin with CC in the sixth, which means he won’t have the option.

Is this after Martin moves from DH to catcher? Because CC catching would be all kinds of awesome.

I really hope that one day the A-Rod re-signing will end up looking brilliant compared to the Pujols signing.

I would like it to look brilliant, but not at the expense of Pujols. Kind of like the guy.

Unless by “Pujols signing” you mean the inevitable contract the Yankees give Pujols in 2022.

I like Pujols, too, which is why seeing him melt down is really weird. He always has seemed so composed but he seems anything but composed in LA.

Pujols has been so consistent it’s sort of believable that a struggle would get to him, but yeah, I can’t have anything against him.

Over under tonight is 10/10.5.  That’s for both teams total BTW.

When I saw Pujols in DNYS for the Angels series, he got a pretty hearty round of boos from the home crowd in each plate appearance. Not many in section 316 joined me in respectful applause for an all-time great. I got the sense this jeering was motivated by the way he left the Cards, as a hometown hero selling out for the big bucks and taking his act to the big city. Pretty stunning coming from Yankee fans, since several of our guys are routinely booed in opposing ballparks for exactly the same reasons.

—Girardi will just lose the DH.—

Didn’t he already do that by slotting Martin in there?

[11] Vegas knows it’s HUGHESDAY!, right?

14 Matusz is no slouch in the RA Dept either.

That’s for both teams total BTW.

Well, there’s your mistake right there.

Martin with two hits tonight. They may or may not both be home runs.

Well, here goes nothing.

Snugs, I want to thank you for the sickblog.
I get the feeling you didn’t get nearly enough love for that - due to the kind of game it was.

[19] It was fun for a while, then the game and my cold turned. I’d gladly do a non-sick blog now that I’m getting settled here in Boulder.

Commence with 76,081 foul balls.

oh look, three foul balls and counting.

Hughes is throwing heat and working quickly tonight. Get those runs in as quickly as possible.

A swinging strike! Hughes is slightly less useless than before!

[23] He he

Curve looked nice in that AB. So, I’m sure he’ll hang 10-12 through the rest of his 2 innings.

I’ve noticed Hughes is throwing fastballs right down the middle early in the count. Certainly the other team will notice sooner or later. Runs coming.

Hughes just hit 95.

[27] I think that’s what happened in TX, 2nd time through the order they just opened up on his 1st pitch FB.

With a 21 pitch inning, Hughes comes in slightly under his average pitches per inning.

[29] Yep. Good thing he has that reliable second pitch to fall back on. Where is everyone else tonight?

No runs in the first.  Whoop-de-damn-do.

Good to see Jeter smoke one, he’s kind of in a mini-slump lately. Would be nice if he does that vs. righties.

Granderson!

Holy moly that was CRUSHED.

I love Grando

Granderson is good at baseball.

Anyone else think ARod runs like an old man lately?

I think its more of a trot….

Granderson is such a quiet home run threat. Co-leads the AL this year and was 2nd last year yet he doesn’t have slugger hype.

Clap-clap-clapclapclap-Clap-clap-clap-clap-It’s May!

EDIT: not in Teixeira-ville, apparently.

[41] YM, after last year that doesn’t work.
Now we have to resort to:
Clap-clap-clapclapclap-Clap-clap-clap-clap-It’s 2008!

oh look.

Of course…

Ha! Hughes is the ultimate CT. I bet those pictures were only half-naked!

Robin Roberts gave up a lot of homers

But the HR pitch had a Naaaaaaaasty Factor of 75!
That’s like really good, right?
Meaning he has really good… stuff… right?

I love early season batting averages where a hit can raise your batting average seven points.

I’m not trying to make excuses, but how much blame should Hughes take for that? it was a first pitch HR, off a 93 mph fastball on the corner, exactly where Martin asked for it. Maybe Hughes should have shaken and asked for a new location, but sometimes batters hit good pitches. I still fully expect Hughes to give up a ton of runs.

Perhaps that HR will prove but a blip in a really good start.
/falling for the CT yet again

I was gonna wonder how the hell a first-place ballclub could have Endy Chavez leading off, but they’re a game back.

Hughes needs a pitch that “induces” ground balls.  Or he needs a new ballpark.

[49] I didn’t see the play, but you sound drunk on optimism.

[52] I honestly think the pitch itself was executed perfectly, maybe the Yankees scouting report was wrong or Martin/Hughes didn’t approach the AB correctly, but in a vacuum of that knowledge it appeared to simply be a hit off of a good pitch.

I feel bad for laughing at the story of PITA’s second concussion.

Is Hughes coming apart again in the 3rd?

His pace has slowed down and he’s not throwing strikes.

Yes.

Just realized the game was in the third. Had the over/under on Hughes pitches at 60. Pleasant surprise.

apparently yes. go put your nose in the corner.

Thankfully I resisted the urge to post about how Hughes looks decent tonight,

blech.

And with that, the David Phelps era officially begins.

I seriously can’t handle this silliness.

That was a bad pitch.

So that one wasn’t perfectly executed?  We should have tried to trade Phil after the first inning.

Guys, his xFIP is 2.61.  It’ll all be OK.

Edit: (for this game)

How often does an xFIP like that, over a significant number of at bats, not mean that it’ll all be ok?

“significant” as in “significant enough to lose the game”?

[49] I’ve been wondering if Hughes is tipping his pitches, or doesn’t conceal well, or doesn’t extend à la Robertson.  Thus pitches with good velocity and movement are readily hittable.

[68]
Yes, that could explain how Phil has now become the New Run Fairy {TM}.
 
But is it likely that NRF is tipping that badly, and yet his own teammates, pitching coach, et. al. aren’t noticing?

I missed that entire inning. Looks like good things happened.

We have the worst designated hitter in all of baseball.

Also, the worst 3-4-5 lineup combo.

We need Swish and TSBG back quickly

At least he can still strike out Nick “RLYW Wet Dream” Johnson

If I am not mistaken Hughes has not thrown a single cutter tonight

[75] Maybe he finally figured out that it is a terrible pitch.

[75] If gameday is accurate than he’s thrown almost nothing but 4-seam fastballs and curves.  He’s used a changeup a couple times, but no cutters.

This is Hughes’s best start this year.  No, that’s not saying much, but if he’d pitched like this all year I’d have more optimism about him as a starter. At this point I think it’s too little, too late.

[76] I don’t think is very bad, he used it very good when he was dominant in the pen (I know SSS and long time ago, but still was good). The thing is that if he starts mixing his pitches a little bit more, he could make a mistake with his FB once in while.

[78] If he goes another inning he probably buys himself a stay of execution if Pettitte is ready next week. But he’ll be on a very short leash.

Another popup from Nunez?  Shocking.

Nunez is a bad baseball player all around

Yeah, his cutter was great out of the bullpen and early in 2010.  For whatever reason it lost effectiveness.  I think he started using it too much.

Higher OPS at end of year: Tex or Nunez? Within 0.005 of each other right now.

[79] It’s been pretty bad for basically 2 years now.

Also, the worst 3-4-5 lineup combo.

Our 7, 8 & (right now) 9 hitters are nothing to write home about (except as a complaint), either.

This lineup has 2 good hitters on Jeter and Granderson, if Granderson doesn’t tie it right now we will have to wait 2 more innings to have a chance to score

I would take Jeter vs. a lefty at home over almost any other situation

Maybe Robertson with the bases loaded

Old good Jeter is becoming one of my favorite Yankees.

Basically, it’s Jeter and Granderson.
[EDIT or what Dak said.]

I’m starting to like Old Jeter more than I ever really liked young Jeter.

Basically, the only way this team can score is if Jeter and Granderson do something, huh?

edit: As dakranker and Wombat Pete have already observed.

GD has a Boston look-in, so they’re likely to score.

Congrats to Brian Matusz on his first win since June of last year!

At least Girardi put them together in the lineup.

Hughes with a QS???

EDIT: Jinxed it. Says something when Hughes’ best start of the year is *almost* a QS.

[96] Almost.

Don’t worry. I thought you were going to turn it into a home run. HBP is much better.

Good move by Girardi pulling Hughes out

I’d take a Chavez PH appearance if possible.

Sigh.