Happy Hiroki Kuroda Day!

After  nearly two weeks on the road, that's just what I needed on a lazy Thursday afternoon: A Yankee matinee, featuring the league's best starting pitcher.

Some others in New York might disagree. Mets fans will greet each other, "Happy Matt Harvey Day" on the day their All-Star pitcher is scheduled, the way Alabama fans greet each other "Roll Tide." But since Harvey isn't even the best pitcher in his city, I say Happy Hiroki Kuroda Day.

In 100+ degree heat in Texas, Hiroki Kuroda gave us 7 shutout innings (for the 7th time this season) and made the Yankees anemic offense look good enough in a 2-0 win.

While the Yankees plod along at 54-48, averaging under 4 runs a game, alternating Lyle Overbay and Vernon Wells as their cleanup hitters, and ace CC Sabathia (9-8, 4.37) has been unreliable, Kuroda has been the team's MVP.

Nobody will gravitate to Kuroda for Cy Young because of his 10-6 record, despite a 2.51 ERA that's 2nd in the AL. But the less than stellar Won-Loss mark deserves closer examination.

> On April 20 in Toronto, Kuroda gave up just 1 ER in 7.1 IP. David Robertson blew the lead in the 8th before the Yankees won in 11 innings.

> On May 28, Kuroda outdueled Matt Harvey for 7 innings, but Mariano Rivera blew the sane in the 9th and the Mets won 2-1.

> On July 7, Kuroda gave the Yankees 7 shutout innings (again), but Rivera gave up a home run to Adam Jones in the 9th in a loss to Baltimore. Rivera's swansong season has been glorious, he's 33 for 35 in save opportunities, but both fiascos have come at Kuroda's expense.

So Kuroda should really, legitimately, be 13-6. And in the 6 losses, the Yankees have scored a grand total of 10 runs, so maybe a couple of those should be wins as well.

And he carries himself like an ace with presence and swagger, on a staff that boasts prolific types like Sabathia, Rivera, and Andy Pettitte.

It's going to be a tough job for the Yankees the rest of the way with 60 games to go. They're 6 games back in the AL East, and 3 games out of an AL Wild Card Playoff. But it's good to know that once every 5 days the man is on the mound.

Yanchorman

It's early in the season yet, but stoic and undersung right-hander Hiroki Kuroda (6-2, 1.99) hasn't just become the Yankees ace, he might just be the best pitcher in baseball. As of this minute anyway, since the Red Sox Clay Buchholz (6-0, 1.78) has dropped from spectacular to merely great.

It didn't take long in 2013 for Kuroda to surpass both Andy Pettitte and CC Sabathia as the Yankees dominant stopper. After his first start of the season, when he was lifted as a precaution when a ball hit off his finger, Kuroda has put the Yankees in a position to win his next 8 starts. His only loss was when the Yankees were shut out 2-0, at Coors Field of all places.

Nobody trumpets Kuroda because he is so methodical, but the inside numbers have been brilliant:

> In 58.2 Innings, he's given up 42 hits and 14 walks, putting his WHIP at 0.95 (5th in AL).

> Of the 42 hits allowed, there have been just 3 HR and 10 2B. So opponents are hitting just .201 and slugging at an anemic .292 (2nd in AL).

> And he has allowed Zero Stolen Bases, very rare for an RHP with 9 starts. That must be a concentrated area of improvement since he allowed 17 last season.

In the last 35 years, only one Yankee (Roger Clemens, 2001) has won the AL Cy Young award. And in the last 20 years, only one pitcher (Justin Verlander, 2011) has won the AL MVP.

With Kuroda anchoring the Yankees unimaginable 26-16 start, he should certainly be in the running for both awards. Though he'll likely have to beat out his own teammate, Mariano Rivera, to get them.

I know it's still early, but I am inspired to make wild predictions everytime I watch Kuroda pitch.

Happy Mo's Day

After a sweep in Kansas City, the Yankees have now won 5 straight to go 23-13. It's a number nobody expected at this stage with about two-thirds of the lineup on the DL. The difference between predicted an actual results has been the pitching of course. And specifically, the matter-of-fact return to form of 43-year old Mariano Rivera.

Rivera announced this would be his final season after tearing his ACL in a freak batting practice accident back in Kansas City a year ago. And he does his job with the same ruthless efficiency: like Robert Patrick's character in Terminator 2. And going 15-for-15 in save opportunities in the Yankees' first 36 games deserves a smile and a break from character.

To put that in perspective, Rivera has more saves than the Yankees have losses. And while Mo seems like the obvious Yankee MVP at this point, he wouldn't be in position to close without the strong starting pitching, led by Hiroki Kuroda.

Each of Kuroda's starts (5-2, 2.31) has been winnable and he goes deep into games, like another 7.2 innings today. This is Kuroda's 6th season on this side of the Pacific and for 4 seasons in LA the results differed drastically from start to start, though the stats evened out by the end of each season.

As a Yankee, his first few starts of 2012 were much of the same until he became the rotation's anchor, even better than CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte. And there's been some fire to go with his ice. Today it was a little dust up with home plate ump Laz Diaz upon his departure in the 8th.

Kuroda still uses an interpreter so you'd have to think Diaz was put off by body language. But the international language of baseball always translates: pitching.

Picking Up Where We Left Off

After the completion of play this afternoon in Toronto, the Yankees are now 10-6. So, they blew a late lead and cost Hiroki Kuroda a win, but the result was still favorable. With 10% of the season done, we can now assess how the team is doing and what a nice surprise April has been.

Brian Cashman is spinning his usual mastery, handling the Yankees' voluminous injuries with experienced stopgaps, and thus far the spare parts are humming. Kevin Youkilis, Travis Hafner, Vernon Wells, and Lyle Overbay not only have exceeded expectations but provided veteran leadership.

But the best Bronx Bomber thus far is a pitcher: Hiroki Kuroda. And it's not all that shocking considering what he did last year.

CC Sabathia (3-1, 2.57) has been strong, and Andy Pettitte (3-0, 2.01) has been brilliant. But Kuroda (2-1, 2.35) has put together back-to back gems, allowing one run and eight hits in the last 16+ innings. And based on how he ended 2012, that seems to be what we can expect.

After his first 9 starts as a Yankee last year he was still adjusting to a new coast in a new league at 3-6 with a 4.56 ERA. Since then, he's 15-6 with a 2.91 in 28 starts, not including two outstanding playoff starts.

In those 28 starts, Kuroda has allowed two or fewer runs 17 times. He is a stopper, and he's done it with just about as little fanfare as you can get in New York. While Sabathia commands all the money, and Pettitte has the resume, Kuroda is just a Hiro.

Backtime Memo-Random: Shreveport

I was going to follow up on yesterday's Rudy Tomjanovich mantra, "Never underestimate the heart of a champion," so I'll pay it a little lip service.

CC Sabathia was brilliant and the Yankees needed all 9 innings from him in ALDS Game 5 to finally bury Baltimore. Then while we were enjoying an awesome Cajun meal at The Blind Tiger, the champs mounted their relentless comeback from 6-0 down, and the Cardinals shocked the Nationals 9-7.

But I'm going to praise the heart of a TV road warrior instead, myself.

Both stories from the Backtime Travelogue involve where I currently sit: Shreveport.

December 27, 2002

The Independence Bowl had always been a pretty pedestrian matchup between a SEC team and a Big 12 team. Sometimes, a classic breaks out like the 2000 Snow Bowl, when Mississippi State outlasted Texas A&M in the biggest snowstorm ever to hit Shreveport.

The 2002 version was notable for a couple of reasons.

First, the brand-name Nebraska Cornhuskers, who had played for the BCS Championship the season before, came in at 7-6. I had lived in Omaha for less than a year at the time, and was shocked that the Big Red-crazy city sent only one local TV news reporter to Shreveport. The season was already over and the second tier Bowl game was apparently invisible to even the nation's most die hard fans.

Second, Ole Miss had a junior quarterback named Eli Manning. And we spent the 48 hours leading up to the game hunting down a rumor. Finally in the journalistic coup of my career, I discovered that Eli Manning was not in fact dating Britney Spears.

The game was pretty good - Manning threw for 313 yards and the Rebels won 27-23.

It was a good show, and an uneventful departure from Shreveport. Unlike the gamut I had ran nearly four years prior.

January 17-19, 1999

It was in my mercenary (read: whore) period in the business, and I naturally committed to working 4 games in 4 days: 3 as a regional producer and one as a network associate director.

We wrapped up our ho-hum hoop game in Boston College on Sunday (day 2), and I got to Logan on time for a flight to Memphis, expecting a connection to Monroe, Louisiana.

The Monday game was a MLK Day women's matinee between perennial powers UConn and Louisiana Tech in Ruston. It was the national game that I graciously accepted (cha-ching), sandwiched between Boston and South Bend.

I also graciously accepted long before I knew the Jets would be participants in the AFC Championship game. I was waiting my whole life for a Jet game of this magnitude, and I was hoping to catch the end of it on may layover in Memphis.

But a tornado hit Memphis and we circled in the air for nearly three hours. I didn't see a minute of the game, and missed my connection. The Jets squandered a 10-0 second half lead and lost 23-10 in Denver. (Even though I taped the game, I never could bring myself to watch it)

But I had a more immediate problem. I had a 6 AM call time in Ruston, and the first flight into Monroe wouldn't get me in until 10:50 AM, barely 3 hours to tip-off. So I grabbed a rental car and started going. The weather had passed so I figured I'd make most of the 5+ hour drive that night, rack up somewhere along the way, and get to my gig.

It sounded like a good plan. I set the cruise for about 75 MPH, and the drive from Memphis to Little Rock was a cakewalk. But southbound from Little Rock was a different deal. A two-lane highway, no street lights, and deer grazing along the side of the road in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. My grip is probably still indented on that rental's steering wheel.

It was about 3 AM when I finally reached the outskirts of civilization, and laid head down on an Econo Lodge pillow in El Dorado, Arkansas for about 3 hours. Somehow I made it to Ruston within an hour of my call time, and while it was just another plot point on my 4-day odyssey, I was very happy to see some friends.

I had worked the previous year's 1998 WNBA season with Robin Roberts (play-by-play) and Geno Auriemma (analyst). They both figured in this game as well.

Robin was broadcasting this game. It was always a pleasure working with her. She smiled more than any announcer I've ever worked with and her presence on any show added instant credibility. Both were great qualities to have, especially on an occasionally mundane product like women's basketball.

"Oh my God! I can't see!" Geno saw me before I saw him. It was a resplendently sunny day and he was first off the UConn team bus. He was (and still is) the Huskies' head coach. His exclamation as he waved his hand over his eyes was a reaction to the glare coming off my bald head.

I hadn't really slept, but my work on this day was as a mindless role player. We got on the air, had a 2-hour show, we got off the air. I hopped in the car and burned rubber for Shreveport Airport, where I would get a direct flight to Chicago, and then drive to South Bend.

Except on the road from Ruston to Shreveport I ran out of gas. I never filled up on the ride through the night and I sputtered to an exit in Arcadia, LA. Fortunately the exit ramp was downhill. A truck driver gave me a lift about a half-mile to a Shell. I purchased a gallon of water, emptied it and filled it with regular. I borrowed a funnel from the filling station, and begged a quick ride back to the car.

I returned to top the tank off, and got back on I-20. The whole ordeal took about an hour and the last flight to Chicago was presumably long gone. But when I got to Shreveport Airport, the Chicago flight was significantly delayed so I was still able to make it. The funny thing was it was a ground stop. The plane was on the runway, even though the jetway had been retracted.

So I was escorted to the tarmac with my bags. The American commuter jet opened up their door, rolled down the stairs and I climbed onto the plane. This was pre-9/11, so while it was highly unusual it was possible. I felt very important - a Shreveport VIP - as I melted into my seat to grab a few minutes rest before I had to start studying for Seton Hall/Notre Dame.

But that plane that was stuck on the runway would never leave for Chicago that day. After we were ultimately canceled, I walked across the terminal (inside this time) onto the Dallas flight and made the last connection to Chicago from there, where I finally landed after Midnight.

It had been 70 degrees in Louisiana and it was under 10 in Chicago. I scraped the ice off my rental car windshield and ricocheted off to South Bend...a little too fast. About two miles out of O'Hare I saw the lights and sirens and got pulled over.

I was almost happy as I got to tell the story of my day to the cop. I woke up in some roadside dump in Arkansas, I worked in Ruston, ran out of gas in Arcadia, got a flight canceled in Shreveport, and two flights later was now still 90+ minutes from South Bend.

He said something along the lines of "That's quite a story" as though he was skeptical. I fished out my boarding pass and my Louisiana Tech credential. I realized at that point my fingers still smelled like gasoline but resisted the urge to have the police officer take a whiff.

He gave me a warning and asked me to take it easy - at least until I crossed the Indiana line.

I pulled up at the Marriott South Bend, after the time change around 4 AM. I got about 5 hours of sleep when the phone rang in my hotel room. It wasn't my wake up call. It was my network boss, offering his thanks for my efforts above and beyond what was required of me to get to Ruston.

I could have told him what I did to get from Ruston to the landline in South Bend he was calling, but I simply told him it was no problem at all. It's all just part of the job.

Traveling Through The Quad

For the second straight weekday, the MLB Division Series provided 4 games strung in a row. With the constant tension, looming elimination, close finishes, and overlapping action it was reminiscent of March Madness.

I couldn't just sit in front of the TV as I had to travel today so I caught bits and pieces in the afternoon. When I pulled up at the Savannah airport, the Giants and Reds were scoreless in the 3rd in their Game 5.

When I landed in Atlanta I had an hour to kill in Terminal D - not a lot of options, but hit Atlanta City Blues for some BBQ nachos. I couldn't stay for the end, but I did see Angel Pagan's game-sealing diving catch in the 8th.

I had to board the plane for Shreveport but the 2010 champion Giants sealed the deal, winning 3 straight on the road in Cincinnati and advancing to the NLCS.

It reminded me of what Rudy Tomjanovich said in 1995, when his Houston Rockets won their second straight NBA title as the #6 seed in the West.

"Never underestimate the heart of a champion."

I mean seriously. They lost closer Brian Wilson for the year. They lost top hitter Melky Cabrera to suspension. Two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum wasn't even near the shadow of himself (until they needed him the most in relief in Game 4). They dug deep and found the team unity and resiliency of two years ago.

I checked the phone when I landed in Shreveport and saw the Giants result, and the Cardinals and Nationals were tied 1-1 in the 8th. I hopped in the rental car, drove a mile to the hotel, checked in, and dashed up to the room - just in time to see Jayson Werth circling the bases after a walk-off home run.

So Game 5 in Washington Friday night, and it's a great pitching matchup: 21-game winner Gio Gonzalez for the Nats, and Adam Wainwright and his 0.77 career postseason ERA dealing for the Cards.

So double down that Rudy T quote for the defending champs from St. Louis. And what of the 2009 champion Yankees? Well, you gotta score runs to win.

Since erupting for 5 runs in the 9th inning of Game 1, the Bronx Bombers have bombed. In Games 2-4, they have 6 runs total in 34 innings. They've batted .192 as a team in those 3 games.

And while much has been made of A-Rod's struggles at the plate, and granted he's been terrible in key spots, but at least he's hit a few line drives. Robinson Cano is 2-for-18 (.111) and Curtis Granderson is damn-near an automatic out at 1-for-16 (.063) with 9 Ks.

On this night, the Yankees stranded runners in scoring position in the 3rd, 6th, 7th, and 8th before eventually succumbing due to non-support in the 13th.

Now they'll have to lace 'em up and ride CC Sabathia just 17 hours later. And he'll have to go the whole way after Rafael Soriano and David Robertson each pitched multiple innings two days in a row.

But this is why you have to win the division in a 162-game season. The Yankees didn't have to go through the Wild Card - they have one game at home with their top pitcher on the hill. It's a decided advantage that they earned, but anything is possible.

Due to the length of the Yankee debacle, I missed most of the nightcap between the Tigers and the A's. But unlike the Oakland Athletics' season, it was anticlimactic. They had the unfortunate assignment of going against this guy.

Justin Verlander's postseason resume is fairly undistinguished (4-3, 4.96 coming into the game), but seriously who would you rather put out there in one game with the season on the line? And he of course delivered in spectacular fashion with a complete game, 4-hit shutout and 11 Ks.

I didn't watch a second of the NFL game, but I understand there was some Matt Hasselbeck magic and the Titans upset the Steelers. I also didn't watch Arizona State roll Colorado, which was expected. I did stream the VP debate through the laptop, and that was about what I expected.

Now it's time for the Yankees to do the unexpected on Friday... score some runs.

Yankees Arms Race To The Finish

Two-out-of-three in Boston. Just what the Yankees should have expected, and got. There are 19 games left in a nail-biting AL East race where they still can't seem to shake (or be shaken by) the upstart Orioles.

You can't get too high or too low with so much time left, just trust the man on the hill will do his job. And this year, Phil Hughes (15-12, 3.96) has done that. In a season which C.C. Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, and Ivan Nova have all spent time on the DL, and Mariano Rivera was lost for the year, Hughes has taken the ball every time out.

Yes he's given up a ton of Home Runs (33) but the key number (besides 15 wins) is 175 Innings Pitched. And after a rocky first two months, he's gone 6 innings or more in 14 of his 19 starts.

You can point all the way back to May 22nd when the Yankees were 21-21 and 5.5 games out of 1st place. They were still lost in the wilderness without Rivera and had no direction. Hughes (then 3-5, 5.23) threw 6 solid innings in a win vs KC which began a team run of starting pitching that had not been seen before, and may not be seen again.

It was a 24-game span in May and June that defined the Yankees season. The Yankees won 20 of 24 and their starting pitchers, with their rotation fully in tact, went 18-2. And maybe even more remarkably, those starters went 6 or more innings in 23 of those 24 games.

You could say that makes Joe Girardi's job a lot easier, but he had to have the trust in guys like Hughes and Hiroki Kuroda to work through their issues, and they flourished. On June 3, Hughes went the distance, out-dueling Justin Verlander. And Kuroda has arguably been the Yankees' ace - and is a start away from 200 innings.

Now Nova returns from the DL on Saturday, and Pettitte on Tuesday. The Yankees have held the fort down for the cavalry to return while the O's get a 6-game West Coast trip.

And just another reminder before any more games are played that Girardi is only the second-most tightly-wound manager in baseball.

Looking for a Hiro? Yanks Look Like They've Found One

That's Hiroki Kuroda, the Yankees starting pitcher, being congratulated by catcher Russell Martin after a complete game, 2-hit, 17-groundout, 109-pitch, 2-hour-and-35-minute shutout masterpiece. And he did it against the Texas Rangers, arguably the best offensive team in baseball.

After a solid, but not stellar career in Japan (103-89 in 10 seasons), Kuroda went to the Dodgers for 3 years. He had flashes of brilliance - a near perfect game against the Braves in 2008, but for the most part he's been a modest MLB starter.

2008    9-10, 3.73
2009     8-7, 3.76
2010   11-13, 3.39
2011   13-16, 3.07

Not too bad. He's an innings eater with a much better than average ERA, but the Yankees took a chance on him anyway as their #2 starter. It didn't look good at first. Through 9 starts, Kuroda was 3-6, 4.56. But the Yankees stuck by their investment and it has been a dream.

In his last 15 starts, he's 8-2 with a 2.30. And he's gone 7+ innings in 11 of the 15 starts in the heat of summer, and is one of the most dominant pitchers in the AL.

Now Kuroda's innings and presence are magnified with C.C. Sabathia headed to the DL for a second time this year. How do you say "ace" in Japanese?

A Mound Of Trouble

It's August 7th and the Yankees still hold the AL's best record, but they have been humbled badly twice in the last three days.

On Saturday, Seattle's Felix Hernandez dismantled the Yankee lineup effortlessly with a 2-hit shutout. He wore long sleeves on a 91-degree day and needed just 101 pitches.

Last night, Detroit's Justin Verlander did his thing. While King Felix just cruised, Verlander got the hammer out striking out 14 in 8 innings, allowing just 2 unearned runs. He even struck out Ichiro Suzuki 3 times, who hadn't whiffed in over 2 weeks.

Now there's no shame in losing to, or even being dominated by back-to-back Cy Young winners. Unless you're the Yankees and a 100-win season is where you meet the bar. Only getting to the World Series will exceed it. And being automatic outs for the league's best pitchers isn't the way to achieve that goal.

While CC Sabathia and Hiroki Kuroda have been horses in the Yankee rotation, they have not pitched consistently enough to be counted on every single start.

And there were other disturbing signs last night. Yankee starter Ivan Nova looked very uncomfortable again. After going 16-4 last year, and starting 9-2 this year, Nova has lost 4 of 5 and is in serious need of repair or he may find himself back in the bullpen.

And three time zones away, the Angels' Jered Weaver shut out Oakland to go to 15-1. Just another guy who could personally blow up the Pinstripe chances in October.

I would use an expression to describe how out-of-sync the Yankee hitters look against these guys, but I've used up the profanity allotment for my lifetime.

Addition By Addition, Joba Chamberlain Edition

Joba's back. Enough of guys getting injured, one finally returns.

Fourteen months after elbow surgery, and then for good measure dislocating his ankle in a trampoline accident this spring, Joba Chamberlain returned to the mound. The moment wasn't lost on the Yankee fans. There was talk he'd never pitch again, or at least not in pinstripes, but he made his return on August 1, well before the playoffs.

Despite leading the AL East by 7 games in the loss column, the Yankees have been beset by a ton of injuries. Mariano Rivera's freak knee buckle shagging batting practice flies was devastating enough. But Brett Gardner is out for the year, A-Rod is out indefinitely after getting plunked on the wrist. Andy Pettitte was pitching great before he took a line drive in the leg. Even the monster-durable CC Sabathia had a DL stint, and Mark Teixeira is very iffy in the short term.

Injuries are part of the game (baseball was the first sport to use the term "disabled list"), but this year seems a little much.

I don't know if fans are expecting a lot from Joba, his presence is just a bonus at this point. But imagine if he was the force of 2007. You can never have too much pitching.

I lived in Nebraska when Chamberlain was a Cornhusker and I know the adversity he's been through in his life, and he hasn't been perfect himself. But maybe the second act of his career begins now.

What's wrong with the Yankees? We should all have such problems

Time for The Pinstripes' 15-game checkup. Much has been made off those empty high-dollar seats that sap the energy from the TV coverage. Or maybe the alarming rate that baseballs are leaving the new house. Or the ugly, crooked scores of some of their losses: 10-5, 15-5, 10-2, 22-4.

The bottom line is that the Yankees are 9-6. They take the momentum of Melky Cabrera's 14th inning walk-off HR into a weekend series at Fenway which should be a great barometer.

Melky was my favorite up-and-coming Bomber when he took over in CF back in 2007. But last season he stopped hitting. This year he changed his number from #28 to the #53 vacated by Bobby Abreu's departure. The change of jersey didn't change his fortunes right away. Brett Gardner still beat him out in the spring.

Joe Girardi favored the speedier outfielder who can make more happen on the bases. I prefer the outfielder more likely to circle the bases. Melky has made most of his limited opportunities with a team-high 4 HR in just 23 At Bats.

My couch is over 800 miles from River Avenue & 161st Street, but here’s why I think the Yankees will finish well above the .600 mark they’ve posted thus far.

A-Rod's Return

Not only has his bat been missed, but think about just having his presence in the lineup with guys like Teixeira, Posada, Swisher, and a smokin’ Robinson Cano (10-game hit streak) around him.

The Rotation Will Straighten Out

Forget Chien-Ming Wang’s spiral into the pitching abyss, he was 54-20 in his career before this unspeakable stretch. You have to just hope there’s nothing seriously wrong with him and keep sending him out there.

CC Sabathia’s lackluster April (1-1, 4.81 ERA), is miles ahead of last season, when he started 3-8 for the Tribe. But from June 10 on, CC was 14-2 in 22 starts, with a 1.69 ERA in nearly 8 innings per start. He’s a horse and will be automatic in the summer months.

Joba Chamberlain is still a wild card. An awful lot of fanfare for a guy with 6 career wins. Would he be a better fit in the pen? I have wavered on this, but I’d have to ultimately say no. I saw him as the ace of Nebraska’s Big Red pitching staff, going 7+ innings almost all the time. If anything, his earlier days in the bullpen may have set him up not to be as durable a starter. But he will get stronger.

AJ Burnett (32) and Andy Pettitte (36) have been money. The other three starters are all under 30. There are no holes in the rotation, and A-Rod’s return will bring a deep lineup which leaves the biggest question mark…

Problems In The Pen

And even that is showing signs of turning around. They got 7 1/3 scoreless innings from the relief corps in the 14-inning win.

Rivera has been Rivera (7 scoreless IP, 4 saves). Brian Bruney has been Joba. He has 12 K in 8 innings, and allowed just 5 baserunners.

From the left side, it’s been a nightmare. Damaso Marte has been a disaster since they acquired him last year, and they don’t have a lefty they can count on for a single big out. The Yanks’ 3rd best reliever is a guy named Jonathan Albaladejo.

Fortunately, middle relief should be the easiest thing to pick up from elsewhere as the season wears on. And their presence should be diminished once their first-class group of starters hold up their end of the bargain.

Managing Things

I like Joe Girardi but he looks more tightly-wound in these April games than Joe Torre did in 12 seasons. Hopefully he'll be able to stop driving the Yanks like an NY cabbie and hit the cruise control soon enough.