Posada's Injury May Not Be a Season Ender

From ESPN:

Jorge Posada's shoulder injury does not appear to be season-threatening. That's the early word on the New York Yankees catcher following an exam by Dr. James Andrews on Monday.

Posada was placed on the 15-day disabled list for the first time in his career on Monday, ending a remarkable run of durability at baseball's most physically demanding position.

While the early indications point to a return this season for Posada, a complete diagnosis won't be known for a few more days.

Although not definitive, this is good news for the Yankees and their fans. Injury expert Will Carrroll told Peter Abraham that the injury should take 30 days of rest and rehab. That wouldn't be too bad.

Farnsworth's New (old) Pitch

I couldn't really tell on TV, but According to Tyler Kepner, Kyle Farnsworth is now throwing a cutter. The pitch is actually something Farnsworth has had for a while, he just hadn't used it all that much.

“I’ll throw it whenever [Jose] Molina puts it down,” Farnsworth said. “It’s like my old slider that I had when I was starting, my first couple of years. I was inconsistent with it, so I stopped using it. But I was working on it with Bruney, playing catch with him with it.”

Thank you Brian Bruney. I don't know how long he's be using it, but he's been great his last four appearances. And besides that solo HR off the bat on A. J. Pierzynski in what was a 9-4 ball game last week, he's been very good since the series in Tampa lowering his ERA from 5.68 to 3.65.

Maybe Farnsworth has finally figured out how to be a consistent reliever. If so, he can be a very useful 7th inning man, getting the ball to Joba.

Yankees vs. Tigers Series Preview

Yankees - Tigers
@ Yankee Stadium
(3 games)

The Yankees come home to face the Detroit Tigers for the first time this season. Last year the teams split the 8 game season series.

Detroit comes into Yankee Stadium as one of the bigger disappointments of the early season with an 11-15 record, they look to be coming out of their early season struggles as they've won 5 of their last 7.

The Yankees are coming off a 10 game road trip where they were 5-5. The lineup still has not found itself, but their pitching seems to be coming around. This series will be a big test for the Yankees pitching staff - especially for Hughes and Kennedy - facing the Tigers and their potent lineup.

MATCHUPS

Game 1: Tuesday @ 7:05 p.m. on YES, Phil Hughes RHP (0-3, 7.85 ERA) vs. Kenny Rogers LHP (1-3, 7.66 ERA)

Game 2: Wednesday @ 7:05 p.m. on YES, Andy Pettitte LHP (3-2, 3.23 ERA) vs. Jeremy Bonderman RHP (1-2, 4.28 ERA)

Game 3: Thursday @ 7:05 p.m. on YES, Ian Kennedy RHP (0-2, 8.53 ERA) vs. Nate Robertson LHP (0-3, 6.91 ERA)

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Yankees - Jason Giambi: Giambi finished this recent road trip going 7-20 with 3 HR and 5 RBI. Maybe this is a sign that he's coming out of it with the bat. Facing the Tigers may be just what he needs to maintain this minor success as he's hit them very well throughout his career. In 95 games he's batting .316 with 32 HR, 84 RBI and a 1.070 OPS. Last year he hit .286 with 3 HR and 3 RBI against the Tigers, and hit .333 with 2 HR and 4 RBI in '06.

Giambi vs. Rogers: .435 (10-for-23), 4 HR, 9 RBI, 1.567 OPS
Giambi vs. Bonderman: .200 (3-for-15)
Giambi vs. Robertson: .535 (7-for-13), 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1.409 OPS

Tigers - Magglio Ordonez: Ordonez has been one of the Tigers better hitters to start the season, he's hitting .305 wit 5 HR and 17 RBI. He has also been very good against the Yankees. In 77 career games he's hitting .303 with 19 HR, 66 RBI, and an OPS of .951.

Ordonez vs. Hughes: 0-for-3
Ordonez vs. Pettitte: .343 (12-for-35), 2 HR, 6 RBI, 1.039 OPS
Ordonez vs. Kennedy: none

INJURY REPORT

Yankees:
- Wilson Betemit is still on the DL with pink eye.
- Alex Rodriguez will miss at least one game this series because his quad is still not 100%. Rodriguez said in the post game yesterday that if he had to guess, he would be out for more than one day.
- Jorge Posada is on the DL with a shoulder injury, and may need surgery. More info will be released today.
- Brian Bruney is out for the year with an injured foot.

Tigers:
- Dontrelle Willis is on the 15-day DL with a hyperextended right knee. He threw about 50 pitches against several Tigers' hitters on Saturday and didn't feel any pain.

Yanks Head Home On High Note: Beat Tribe 5-2

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
N.Y. Yankees	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	1	0		5	5	1
Cleveland	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0		2	8	1

The Yankees moved to a game above .500 with a 5-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians to split the 4 game series. Mike Mussina got the start and was good, evening his record at 3-3 for on the season. The only two runs he allowed came in the 5th on an RBI single by Jason Michaels and a sac fly by Travis Hafner. The inning could have been much worse as Cleveland had the bases loaded with nobody out and a run in, but Mussina was able to get out of it only allowing one more run to come in. He also had gotten into a little bit of trouble in the 3rd when he allowed runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out, but was able to strike out David Dellucci and get Jamey Carroll to pop out to end the inning. All in all it was a solid start for Moose: 5 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB and 2 K.

The Yankees bullpen was fantastic tonight. Although he allowed two men to reach base Jonathan Albaladejo pitched a scoreless 6th. Kyle Farnsworth pitched a 1-2-3 7th, and Joba Chamberlain followed with a 1-2-3 8th.

Mariano Rivera came in for the save in the 9th and continued his dominance retiring the side in order to pick up his 8th save of the season. In 11 innings he's allowed no runs on 4 hits, while striking out 11 and walking none.

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Mussina (W, 3-3)	5.0	7	2	2	1	2	0	4.73
Albaladejo (H, 1)	1.0	1	0	0	1	1	0	2.08
Farnsworth (H, 2)	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	3.65
Chamberlain (H, 6)	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1.59
Rivera (S, 8)	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0.00

INDIANS PITCHING

The Yankees were held hitless by Aaron Laffey until the 6th, but Melky Cabrera and Derek Jeter led off the inning with infield singles. Bobby Abreu then lined a single into left field to load the bases for Alex Rodriguez. Laffey was ahead 1-2 in the count on A-Rod but overthrew a fastball and hit Rodriguez on the thigh to drive in the first Yankee run. Jason Giambi and Hideki Matsui followed with RBI ground outs to drive in runs 2 and 3 which gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead. After a pitching change Morgan Ensberg also reached on an infield single driving in the 4th Yankees run.

The Yankees 5th and final run came in the top of the 8th on an RBI double by Hideki Matsui that drove in Johnny Damon who had walked to leadoff the inning.

Robinson Cano continues his horrible April going 0-for-3 to drop his average to .153.

Alex Rodriguez left the game in the 8th, and Joe Girardi said in the post game that he's still not 100% and will get tomorrow off. Rodriguez also said there is "no way" he can play tomorrow. And said if he had to guess it would be more than one day.

AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG Cabrera, CF 4 1 1 0 1 1 0 .289 Jeter, SS 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 .279 Abreu, RF 4 1 1 0 0 1 2 .280 Rodriguez, DH 2 1 0 1 0 0 2 .286 a-Damon, PH-DH 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 .275 Giambi, 1B 4 0 0 1 0 0 5 .167 Matsui, LF 4 0 1 2 0 0 1 .317 Ensberg, 3B 4 0 1 1 0 1 1 .256 Cano, 2B 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 .153 Molina, C 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 .245 Totals 33 5 5 5 2 3 13 a-Walked for Rodriguez in the 8th. BATTING 2B: Matsui (5, Lewis, J). TB: Cabrera; Jeter; Abreu; Matsui 2; Ensberg. RBI: Rodriguez (11), Giambi (11), Matsui 2 (13), Ensberg (3). 2-out RBI: Ensberg; Matsui. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Giambi; Ensberg. Team LOB: 5.

INDIANS HITTING

PLAYER OF THE GAME: The Yankees bullpen: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K

HONORABLE MENTION: Mike Mussina: 5 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

The Yankees finally come home to start a 3 game series with the Detroit Tigers at The Stadium. Phil Hughes gets the start for the Yankees and he will face Kenny Rogers. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m., and the game can be seen on YES and heard on WCBS 880.

Be sure to check out my Yankees-Tigers series preview tomorrow afternoon.

4/28 Minor League Report

================

The Buffalo Bisons (Indians) defeated the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees by a score of 5-2. The loss drops the 1st place Yanks record on the year to 17-9.

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Scranton/WB	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0		2	10	0
Buffalo	0	0	2	2	0	0	1	0	X		5	10	0

Recap - Box

W: B. Buzachero (1-0, 6.00); L: K. Igawa (2-3, 3.58); SV: E. Mujica (2)

HR: SWB: C. Ransom (4). BUF: B. Francisco (1).

PITCHING: Kei Igawa got the start and was not sharp in this game. Buffalo had runners in scoring position every inning but the 5th off Igawa. In the 3rd inning, 2 runs scored on a single and 2-run homer by Ben Francisco, making the score 2-0. In the 4th, 2 more scored on a single and back-to-back rbi doubles making the score 4-0. Igawa's line: 5.0 IP, 4 runs, 7 hits, 3 strikeouts-2 walks. Igawa's record is now at 2-3 with a 3.58 ERA. In Igawa's previous 2 losses, SWB was shutout.

Steven Jackson made his first AAA appearance pitching a scoreless 6th inning getting a K and walk. ... Scott Patterson continues to struggle allowing 1 run in the 7th. The run scored on a Patterson wild pitch after 2 singles and a stolen base, making the score Buffalo 5-0. ... Scott Strickland pitched a scoreless 8th inning, giving up a double and adding a strikeout.

OFFENSE: The Yanks stranded 11 runners in this game. They had runners in scoring position in 6 innings, including the bases loaded in the 1st inning. SWB picked up its 2 runs in the 8th inning. Jason Lane had an infield hit and Cody Ransom followed with a 2-run homer (4) making the final score 5-2. ... In the 9th they brought the tying run to the plate but couldn't get the key hit.

Cody Ransom--2-run homer and single. ... Bernie Castro--3 singles, 2 stolen bases (8). ... Brett Gardner, Juan Miranda, Eric Duncan, and Jason Brown each added a single.

NOTES: Catcher Eladio Rodriquez (Israel) was called up from extended spring training at Tampa to replace Chris Stewart who was called up to NY. ... Dan Giese makes his 4th start out of the bullpen in place of injured Alan Horne Tuesday.

OTHER YANKEES' AFFILIATES

(AA) Trenton - off day

(High A) Tampa lost to Clearwater 3-1 - Box Score - Recap

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Tampa	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1		1	9	0
Clearwater	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	X		3	13	1

W: E. Garcia (3-0, 3.34); L: I. Nova (0-5, 5.06); SV: S. Walls (2)
HR: None.

Tampa:
Damon Sublett: 2-for-5, 3B, RBI
Mitch Hilligoss: 1-for-4
Eduardo Gonzalez: 3-for-4, 2 2B
Kevin Smith: 1-for-3, 2B, BB, R
James Cooper: 2-for-4
Mark Melancon: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, (3.94 ERA)

(Low A) Charleston - off day

(I'd like to thank Big Guy for his great contributions)

Three New Overhead Shots of the New Stadium

This shot is from Flickr member Sreiny

These shots came from Flickr memeber Guru Pinglay

(click to enlarge)

for the main updates page click here

Game 27: Yanks @ Indians

Regular Season Game 27
Yankees (13-13) vs. Indians (12-13)
Progressive Field - Cleveland, OH
Game Time: 7:05 p.m.
TV: YES - ESPN - MLB.TV | Radio: WCBS 880 - XM Radio

Here are the lineups:

YANKEES
Melky Cabrera CF
Derek Jeter SS
Bobby Abreu RF
Alex Rodriguez DH
Jason Giambi 1B
Hideki Matsui LF
Morgan Ensberg 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jose Molina C

Mike Mussina RHP (2-3, 4.94 ERA)

INDIANS
David Dellucci LF
Jamey Carroll 2B
Travis Hafner DH
Victor Martinez C
Jhonny Peralta SS
Ryan Garko 1B
Casey Blake 3B
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Jason Michaels RF

Aaron Laffey LHP (no record)

Notes: Chris Stewart is with the team, and Posada is officially on the DL. ... Robinson Cano enters the game in a 3-for-25 slump. ... This is the first time since September 1, 1996 that the Yankees are playing a game without Posada on the active roster.

Yanks vs. Laffey

never faced him

Indians vs. Mussina

	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
V. Martinez	19	2	1	0	0	3	2	4	.105	.182	.158	.340
J. Peralta	17	6	1	0	1	4	1	3	.353	.389	.588	.977
C. Blake	15	6	2	0	0	1	1	4	.400	.438	.533	.971
G. Sizemore	15	2	0	0	0	1	1	6	.133	.188	.133	.321
T. Hafner	10	2	1	0	0	1	4	2	.200	.467	.300	.767
D. Dellucci	5	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	.200	.333	.200	.533
K. Shoppach	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	.000	.000
J. Michaels	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000
R. Garko	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333	.333	.333	.667
F. Gutierrez	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
P. Byrd	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000
A. Cabrera	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	1.000	1.000	2.000	3.000
Totals	97	21	6	0	1	10	10	24	.216	.294	.309	.603

Stick around and discuss the game

as it happens in the comments section.

Can the Yankees survive without Jorge Posada?

The Yankees will be without their catcher for at least two weeks, but as many of you know a trip to Dr. Andrews usually leads to surgery, so two weeks could turn into to two month, or even longer. But as Mark Fiensand points out on his blog today the Yankees have a very deep lineup. One that should be able to still score runs without Posada's bat. Jose Molina is also a decent hitter, nowhere close to Posada, but decent. And defensively he's clearly better than Posada and he also calls a great game.

There is however another layer to losing Posada, his toughness and leadership not only on the field, but off the field as well. He's the Yankee who gets in other guy's faces if he doesn't like what he's seeing. He's also shown many times through the years that he will stand up for his teammates if he has to.

Derek Jeter is "The Captain" and he leads by example on the field, but Posada is more of a vocal leader. I've heard many people, including experts, say that Posada may even be more of a captain than Jeter is.

This is what Tyler Kepner had to say this morning:

Posada is just tough. That’s the easiest way to put it. In seven years on the Yankees’ beat, I have seen him get drilled in the nose by a relay from point-blank range on a double play. I’ve seen him bowled over by the massive Mark Teixeira – and respond by hitting a game-ending home run.

But for the players, there’s an intangible to having Posada on the field — and in their face. He is brutally honest with his teammates, and players need that. That’s why it was so poignant to see someone as tough and direct as Posada succumb to shoulder pain today and go on the disabled list for the first time in his career. We’ve known for a while now that Posada has a tear (all strains are tears, remember) in his subscapularis muscle. But until today, it seemed he would play through it. He would tough it out

"It's shocking, in a sense, to me," manager Joe Girardi said. "It's a little tough spot, but we've been in a few of them this year. We'll get through it." I think Girardi is right, and I do think this team will get through this somehow, but what do you think?

Can the Yankees survive without Jorge? And if he misses several months, should the Yankees trade for, or sign a catcher, if so, who?