Yankee Talk: Beating up on the stupid

A-Rod, Yankees making teams pay

NEW YORK – When you play the worst teams in the league, not only is the disparity between the teams evident, but also the intelligence.

Therefore, it came as no surprise in the bottom of the seventh inning on Monday with the score at a then-manageable 2-1 that Cleveland Indians manager Manny Acta elected to enter “The World of the Stupid”.

Runners were on first and second and a wild pitch moved the runners over with Mark Teixeira at the plate. As the count stretched to 3-0, the decision Acta had was as a tough as it was simple. Walk the suddenly resurgent Teixeira with first base open, or pitch to Alex Rodriguez with the bases loaded in an effort to set up the double play and get out of the inning.

We saw this happen several weeks ago when the Minnesota Twins elected to do the same thing only to have Rodriguez deposit on into the seats.

Here we were again and the Indians were about to tempt fate and hope for the best. They brought in their best right-handed relief pitcher Chris Perez into the game to face Rodriguez. In a past life, the Yankee slugger would become overanxious at the plate. The enormity of the moment would be enough to make him press and get himself.

Oh, but these are not “those” days.

Rodriguez over the last year has become one of the league’s best hitters in these situations. The numbers go up substantially whenever Teixeira draws an intentional walk in front of him. This is not hyperbole and the numbers back it up.

Nine times teams have put the onus on Rodriguez to come through. Only once has he made on out. The other eight instances have seen him go 4-for-5, with a sacrifice fly, two walks and two grand slams.

Clearly, the Yankees had these numbers at their disposal and quietly smiled. Perhaps Acta did not have record of those numbers or the Indians do not have the resources to supply themselves with that information.

Nonetheless, Perez took his chances and saw the count run to 3-1. As Acta would say later, based on statistical analysis, a 3-1 count to a hitter in that situation made every player resemble Barry Bonds circa 2003.

Uh oh.

Rodriguez took his hack at Perez’s fastball next. Five seconds later, the ball landed near Monument Park for a grand slam to blow the game wide open.

It was the third straight time he had hit a grand slam after teams intentionally walked Teixeira to put him. Let the record show that despite his slow season to date, team still fear the Yankee first baseman as evidenced by his three-run homer the previous day that completed a three-run deficit.

The larger question still is, “Why would you intentionally pitch to Alex Rodriguez?”

In any world, it makes no sense.

I use to wonder why teams would do the same thing and pitch to Manny Ramirez whenever they would give David Ortiz a free pass to first when they were teammates with the Red Sox.

Ramirez would kill teams for doing this and now Rodriguez is doing the same to the rest of the league.
The numbers now stand after that blast that Rodriguez is 5-for-6 in nine plate appearances with 19 RBI’s.

Lethal.

Acta said if the same situation presented itself again, he would gladly take his chances and do it again despite what the number say.

I guess they will never learn.

Soft Patch

Just when the Yankees were playing perhaps their worst stretch of the season, the baseball gods were kind enough to present a healthy stretch of games to allow the team to fatten up.

Starting from this past Friday, the next 16 games are against several of the worst teams in the league.

They have taken three of four from the Indians (and it should have been all four), they play three games home and home with the Orioles, followed by three with the resurgent Blue Jays and concluding with three more at home against the Astros.

Seeing these woeful teams the last few days has been an insult to baseball. They are beyond terrible, and even I know it’s a matter of time before they eventually allow the Yanks to take control before eventually winning the game.

On Sunday, the Indians led 1-0 before two unearned runs allowed the margin to increase to three. In normal games, this would have been a time to concern. However, these were the Indians and their pitching staff after the sixth inning is woeful, so there was no need to worry.

The result? Seven runs over the final two innings to win comfortably.

If Cleveland is bad, then the Baltimore Orioles are worse.

They should not be this bad. Offensively, they have some very talented players in Matt Wieters, Nick Markakis, Adam Jones and Luke Scott. Pitching wise, they have a few young pitchers that have some talent.

After that? Ouch.

They lost several games early in the season out of the bullpen and that set the tone for losing 16 of their first 18 games. Now they seem to be already beginning that slow death march, anxiously awaiting the season to end while there is still four months left.

Nonetheless, the Yankees will take it, playing them six times in the span of nine days.

My minimum requirement for this stretch is 13-3 and anything else would be a disappointment. None of these teams have a representative pitcher good enough along with a bullpen to get this current team out if the Yankees simply don’t play badly.

Pen full of bull

I was one of those saying that the bullpen going into the season was a big strength.

Through the first 33 percent of the season, I have been wrong.

There is an enormous hole in that part of the game and the supposed “Bridge to Rivera” currently needs repair.

Injuries and underperformance have depleted the relief corps, turning each nightly trip to the bullpen into a grueling session in need of having medicine handy just in case.

Thus far, the leaky pen sports an ERA of 4.98 over 137 1/3 innings as we stand on Memorial Day.

The worst case of this came on Saturday afternoon when after leading 10-5, the bullpen saw the lead dissipate and ending with an agonizing 13-11 loss to the Indians.

Cleveland scored seven runs in the seventh inning against four Yankee relievers. It started with David Robertson allowing two of the three batters he saw to reach base, ending in an RBI single by Austin Kearns before a back injury took him out of the game

Joe Girardi came to the mound to bring in Sergio Mitre, who would walk Jhonny Peralta to load the bases.

Girardi only needed four pitches to see enough and quickly called for Damaso Marte to face Russell Branyan and at least he did his job, inducing a fly out to center for the second out.

All it took was one more out and perhaps he could have stuck with Marte to get it. Instead, he opted for Joba Chamberlain, who has not been good in two of his last four appearances, notably giving up the 5-1 lead to the Red Sox nearly two weeks ago.

Chamberlain quickly got behind and gave up an RBI single to Mark Grudzielanek to trim the lead to now 10-7. He would then get behind Matt Laporta and walked him to load the bases. Lou Marson was down in the count 0-2, but then he drilled a double into the right-center gap to make it 10-9.

Panic time.

Girardi wasn’t going to use anyone else because he had no one else. Jason Donald would dunk in a single to shallow right to drove home two more runs to improbably give the Indians the lead as the Yankee Stadium crowd booed in disgust.

Another RBI single by Trevor Crowe to center finally concluded the damage as it was seventh heaven for Cleveland and seventh hell for the Yankees.

What has happened to Chamberlain? No one is sure. He will have his moments where his fastball and slider is crisp and is nearly unhittable. Then, there are these nights when he simply cannot locate the ball, has decreased velocity and just looks like a different person confidence wise.

Unfortunately, there is no one out on any other team that you can just bring in here and will produce under the pressure. The scrutiny is too great and as good as anyone in the league may be, putting them on the Yankees is a much different situation.

Alfredo Aceves is out indefinitely with back problems. Robertson may find his way to the DL soon, but was inconsistent before injury.

Chan Ho Park has effectively earned the verbiage “Chan Ho = No No” whenever I see him enter the game. Damaso Marte (like Chamberlain) comes and goes.

The Yankees are lucky their starting pitching has been dominant to where they can take games into and past the eighth inning with frequent regularity, minimizing the need for these guys to be in there.

Less I see of them the better.


Field right on Target

On Thursday, I took my World Series celebration road trip to Minneapolis to visit the new Target Field to see the Yankees attempt to sweep the Twins.


The place is beautiful from the outside and it makes you wonder why they did not have this sooner.

When I made the walk from my hotel to the game, you are right in the heart of downtown and the walk to the new stadium resembles that of going to Wrigley Field and Fenway Park.

You have many bars along the way that you stop at for a pregame drink before heading towards the area of the park. In addition, they have transit that if you are coming from outside the area, the train will drop you off literally five feet from the stadium.

I was going to get my ticket from the will call window until I saw a kiosk machine where you can pick them up instead. Rather than wait several minutes in line, I went up to the machine much like you would do at an airport and within 30 seconds, my game ticket was in hand.

After experiencing that, it is my contention that every team should have this at their stadium. It surely would not cost much to install one and it will save time.

All around the outside of the stadium you saw representation of the Twins past with blown up baseball cards serving as banners for many former players.

You would see Jim Kaat, Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew, Kent Hrbek, Jack Morris, Chuck Knoblauch and Kirby Puckett. They were great sights to see. Add to it the giant Golden Glove outside Gate 34 (aptly named for Kirby Puckett) that has become a sight for many fans to come and have their picture taken inside of it (see the picture to the right).

A statue of Kirby Puckett is several feet from the glove resembling his fist pump after hitting a game-winning homerun in Game 6 of the 1991 World Series that forced a seventh game the next night. Near that was a statue of Harmon Killebrew’s sweet swing.

Outside was a very great experience, inside you first notice the large scoreboard in left field above the Home Run Porch seats in left, along with shape of the state of Minnesota wrapped around caricatures representing the combination of the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

If I had known about the Minnesota food, I would have given their main meals a chance. After being there, I found out that walleye and pork chop was the food of choice. Instead, I settled for what they call a “Dinger Dog”, a ten-inch long hot dog to go with my hamburger, French fries and beer.

As it turned out, I saved $5 because the cashier did not listen clearly to my order that was not my fault. He brought a cheeseburger when I asked for a hamburger and fries and by the time they got it right, I didn’t get charged anything extra.

Carl 1, Target Field 0.

The seating was nice as I was behind the first base side in the upper deck and that provided a great view of the field. I could have sat in the lower area for a small increase in price, but those areas blocked the view partially of the scoreboard, centerfield and the overall skyline of the city.

However, around the sixth inning, a smattering of bugs made its appearance and their presence felt.

Soon after, they were all over the place with the bright spotlights inviting all of them as if it were a family meeting.

By coincidence, the Twins lead, initially 4-2 in the sixth when the bugs hit, went to 8-2 in a matter of two innings.

The Twins finally got a clean victory over the Yankees 8-2, making my trip unsuccessful, but it was a fun trip overall even if I was not able to get Javier Vazquez through six innings.

I will definitely make another trip to that ballpark in the near future.


Time for another edition of Yankee Random Thoughts


One of the better moments of the season came on Wednesday night when the Yankees were in Minnesota for the completion of the suspended game and then the normal game itself.

Derek Jeter’s homerun in the sixth inning gave AJ Burnett a win on a day he did not pitch in a 1-0 Yankees win.

But perhaps the best part came later that night in the bottom of the eighth inning.

With the scored tied at two, the Twins had runners on first and third with no one out against Andy Pettitte.

Girardi was not going to pitch anyone else because he used up most of his reliever in the first game to get the win.

Pettitte had a low pitch count, but this would be the most stressful part of his night. With Orlando Hudson up, he got him to chase a breaking ball for the first out and that brought up MVP Joe Mauer.
I was almost certain that even as great as Pettitte, even this situation might see Mauer win the battle and give the Twins the lead.

Instead, Pettitte delivered again, jamming Mauer with a cutter and getting him to sharply ground to Jeter, who turned double play as the left-hander pumped his fist in excitement as the score would remain tied before Nick Swisher hit a dramatic ninth-inning homerun that eventually gave the Yankees a 3-2 win.

Keeping in tune with a stat I began to track at the beginning of the season, the Yankees have only six “clean losses” this season, with the last one coming this past Thursday in the 8-2 loss to the Twins.

Even the disgusting 13-11 loss was not a clean defeat as the offense managed to get the tying run to the plate.

The number stands at five for the year.

Think about that. Only five times out of the 20 games they have lost have been of the “no-doubt” variety.

Could it be possible that the Yankees will bring three starting pitchers to the All Star Game?

It could happen if AJ Burnett, Andy Pettitte and Phil Hughes continue at the pace they are at right now. All three men have a chance to have ten wins and ERA’s in the two’s or three’s if they continue to perform at the level they are at right now.

If only CC Sabathia could join the party.

The number two slot in the lineup did not seem to fit Brett Gardner well when Mr. DL left the team, compounded by Curtis Granderson being out for a month put him in that spot.

His average suffered and it sure did look as if he was trying to do too much instead of doing what he does best.

Since moving back to the bottom of the order, he has been hitting well again.

Coincidence?

The teams best lineup, it’s “playoff lineup” has Gardner in the ninth spot in the order in a double leadoff spot with Jeter.

Stats showed Teixeira hit .281 in the month of May, but you could have fooled me.

He started hot and finished the month strong, but in between was woeful. It is the equivalent of a boxer flurrying early and late in a round in order to steal a round without doing anything in the middle.
At least he is drawing walks.

Do not worry about the slight power outage this season for A-Rod. He will come around.

No more Juan Miranda. He has a few holes in his swing and while he had a few hits and made a few nice plays at first, he resembles Shelley Duncan.

Marcus Thames injury is probably the best thing that could happen to me. At least I don’t have to see him play the outfield for the foreseeable future.

Last week the team released Randy Winn. Outside of a three-run homer he hit against the Orioles, he was never able to catch up to a plus-fastball and looked done.

Sorry Randy. However, I ask Brian Cashman the following question:

“What the hell did you see that led you to believe you could spend $1.2 million on him?”

Just needed something to get angry about.

Yankee Talk: Subway Series Edition - Getting Up Off Deck

Mets battle back to salvage weekend

FLUSHING – Sometimes in our insulated baseball world called New York, it feels as if we are playing more than just a baseball season.

Many times, it seems if we are playing 162 one-game seasons with each night feeling as if it were Game 7 of the World Series.

The scrutiny around all of these games creates an incredible amount of pressure where losing is damn near unacceptable and losing more than three in a row can constitute a “crisis”.

For the Mets, they have played what amounts to three seasons in one. The up-and-down nature of their year has turned into nothing but one long roller coaster destined to end either with a spectacular thrill or a head first dive with far reaching franchise ramifications.

After losing a hard fought first game on Friday, the Mets recovered to win the final two games to win the season’s opening round of the Subway Series. The win pulled them one game under .500 as they attempt to battle their way out of the current logjam that is the National League East.

While the Yankees may be further out in their division to the Tampa Bay Rays (six games) than the Mets are to the Philadelphia Phillies (three and a half games), it is the team wearing orange and blue that seems to be one bad streak away from disaster.

For now, they will take it day-by-day.

When they were 4-8, there were already proclamations that the season was over.

A stunning run where they won nine of their next ten games vaulted them into first place. Happy days were back at Citi Field.

They went to Citizens Bank Park against their rivals from Philadelphia looking to send a message, but it was the Phillies sending it. They rocked Johan Santana for 10 runs in a nationally televised Sunday night game.

Two weeks ago, they were four games over, but a stretch of losing 10 of their next 13 brought another twist to their already whirlwind season.

The offense could not hit. Jose Reyes was in a severe funk. Jason Bay had a sudden power outage, aided in part to the dimensions of his new ballpark. Add in David Wright striking out nearly once every three at-bats and not getting the “big hit” and it all mixed in to make him replace Alex Rodriguez as the most scrutinized baseball player currently playing in New York.

Over the course of five days, the Mets have only two reliable pitchers. When Santana and Mike Pelfrey pitch, he gives the team their best chance to win. After that, all they can do is hope and pray. John Maine has become a mental patient. Oliver Perez is even worse, and with no fifth starter after Jon Niese’s injury, they have to dig into their minor leagues to someone, anyone who can go a few innings without “pulling a Perez or Maine”.

Yet somehow, after all of this carnage, the blame for this was going on to manager Jerry Manuel, who would have been on the firing block particularly if the Yankees swept them this weekend.

Are you serious?

Certainly, it cannot be his fault for Wright’s strikeout rate or Bay’s loss of power (before his two-homerun output on Sunday) and Reyes’ inability to get on base. Did you think he expected to have Rod Barajas to lead the team in homeruns?

Mind you that is before only having 40 percent of a rotation that one could consider “reliable” before crossing ones fingers in hopes that his overworked bullpen can get at most the final nine outs of the ballgame.

This is a team before the season had its flaws and holes not fixed during the winter. Anyone who thought Maine or Perez would be reasonable contributors considering their injury history (Maine) or complete ineptness (Perez) was doomed to failure.

A change in manager is not going to make Wright hit better. He cannot make up for Luis Castillo’s dead corpse at second base or make Bay hit more homeruns. The idea of “lighting a fire” is silly on its own merit and suggests that someone else in the dugout will flip a proverbial “switch”.

None of that is going to happen.

This weekend, it was Pelfrey and Santana who led them.

This weekend, it was Bay and Wright that provided the offensive punch previous missing for most of the season.

This weekend, it was a tired bullpen, overworked from many bad starts by the remaining three pitchers finding enough strength to get those final few outs when the Yankees attempted to rally from sizeable deficits.

This weekend, they made a stand.

For now, this is the team they are going to have for better or worse.

In the down National League, barring a complete collapse, they will be in contention for a playoff spot all season as the other contenders (whoever they may be) all are no better than the Mets are.

They will wait for the return of Carlos Beltran and see if he can be the same player he was prior to injury.

Perhaps they can swing a deal for a top-flight starting pitcher they did not get this past off-season.

Going wire-to-wire to the playoffs will not happen for this team. Instead, they will face a daily grind, with each game bringing drama.

Whether they play meaningful games in September is still to be determined. For now, they have put out another mini brush fire.

Right up until the next one starts back up.

Yankee Talk: Subway Series Edition – Mets State of Mind

Sabathia hammered, comeback falls short in ninth

FLUSHING – For as awful as the Yankees played for the first seven innings, it was almost amazing that they still had a chance to steal the game at the end.

However, there they were, trailing by five runs at the beginning of the ninth inning in what looked to be a ho-hum loss and suddenly having a chance with the go-ahead run at the plate.

It was Alex Rodriguez with a chance to give the Yankees the lead facing Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez in battle to see who would break first.

In the end, it was the Mets Rodriguez winning battle, striking out the Yankees Rodriguez with a curveball that he swung over to win the eight-pitch battle and giving the Mets a 6-4 victory in front a 41.422 at Citi Field to win the first round of the Subway Series.

Prior to the ninth inning, the Yankees string of bad play continued from the previous day. Unfortunately, for the second day in a row, they were unable to pull
off another miracle.

They were put in the hole early by their ace CC Sabathia, who in a battle with cross town ace Johan Santana, allowed the Mets offense to get started early and often.

After battling out of a bases loaded, one out jam in the first inning to escape without giving up a run, Sabathia was not so lucky in the next frame. Rod Barajas led off with a double, but then Jeff Francoeur and Santana struck out. Jose Reyes lifted a bloop single to left center, but Barajas could not score when Kevin Russo’s throw came to the plate. The ball skipped off catcher Francisco Cervelli’s glove, allowing Reyes to move to second.

After getting two strikes on Alex Cora, a close 1-2 pitch was called a ball. With the count now 2-2, Cora would single to right center to drive home two runs to give the Mets the lead.

Jason Bay would then follow with a two-run blast over the wall in left to increase the margin to 4-0. For Bay, it was his only his second homerun of the season and first since April 27.

Having that cushion was more than enough for Santana, who if you eliminate his 10-run outing against the Phillies, would sport a 2.25 ERA for the season. The Yankees early threat came in the third when after two singles by Sabathia and Derek Jeter, Brett Gardner (0-for-4 and 0-for-13 in the series) hit in to double play and Mark Teixeira fouled out to end the inning.

Bay continued his hot hitting by crushing another Sabathia pitch over the right center field wall to make it 5-0. It was Bay’s sixth hit in his last six plate appearances going back to Saturday when he went 4-for-4 in the Mets 5-3 win.

After an Ike Davis single, David Wright would double him home to make the lead a half-dozen, a lead Santana would take into the seventh before the Yankees finally got their first run of the game when Cervelli hit an RBI single off the top of the left field wall.

The ball hit the top of the orange line, which is to delineate between a ball in play, or out of the park. Umpires initially ruled it in play and Cervelli, thinking it was a homerun, trotted out of the batter’s box before pointing to the wall to alert that the ball should have been out. After review, the play on the field stood and only one run was on the board.

In the eighth, the Yankees threatened again. With Santana still in the game, he walked Marcus Thames to start the inning. Jeter reached on a fielder’s choice and Gardner lined out to Wright. Teixeira would then single to center and Rodriguez worked a walk to load the bases. That would signal the end of Santana’s night and Pedro Feliciano was brought into to put out the sudden fire, which he would do by getting Robinson Cano to pop out to end the inning.

The Yankees would stage their rally in the ninth with the help of another leadoff walk, this time to Nick Swisher. Cervelli would then single to right and after Russo reached on a fielder’s choice, pinch hitter Juan Miranda’s RBI single made it 6-2.

Francisco Rodriguez came in to clean up the mess, but Jeter (3-for-5) would take his hanging curveball and hit it off the wall for a double to trim the lead to 6-3. An RBI groundout by Gardner got the Yankees to within two. Teixeira would then reach on a high infield chop to give Rodriguez a chance to win the game with one swing before striking out.

It was the Yankees second straight series loss, and they have lost five of their last six overall as they fell to six games behind the Rays in the AL East.

Yankee Talk: Subway Series Edition – Phil loses battle

Hughes struggles putting Mets away

FLUSHING – The clock began to tick on Phil Hughes in the sixth inning.

Two men were out and Angel Pagan was on third base for the Mets leading 3-1 in a game that was more than in reach for a Yankees comeback despite their offensive futility against starter Mike Pelfrey.

For the young Yankee right-hander, the season began with him almost toying with the rest of the league. As late as his last start on Monday against the Red Sox he stood at 5-0 with an ERA of 1.38.

However, it was in that start when Hughes showed some chinks in his previously invincible armor.
Given a five run cushion after one-inning, he allowed Boston to work a number of tough at-bats before finally reaching base.

Finally, by the fifth inning, he got two outs on three pitches and with a 5-2 lead, was well on his way to another victory. Instead, he gave up the lead on a single, double and homerun to trim the margin to 6-5, raise his pitch count over 100 and effectively ending his night.

The last thing a pitcher needs to do to make the jump to elite greatness is to have the ability to minimize damage and not allow a team to harm you by scoring runs with two outs.

Allowing the other team to extend an inning begins a cycle of events that all lead to an eventual bad result.

It forces the pitcher to throw more pitches, the equivalent of taking away bullets from a gun. The more you throw in these spots, the less likely you will be pitching later in a game. In addition, the two-out, run-scoring hit is the most back-breaking for a team knowing all they needed was one more out before going back into the dugout.

Saturday at Citi Field, Hughes started strong in the first inning by getting the first two hitters. Then a double by Jason Bay and walk to rookie Ike Davis gave the Mets a chance. David Wright and Angel Pagan would make him pay with back-to-back run-scoring singles to give the Mets a 2-0 lead.

For Hughes, it was an inning that could have seen him throw 11 pitches (before Bay’s double) to get three outs and instead, saw him throw 25.

Fast forward two innings and again, Hughes retires Jose Reyes and Luis Castillo for the first two outs. Having Bay down in the count 1-2, he gives up a single to keep the inning going.

Another walk to Davis followed and with Wright up again, he came through again with another two-out run-scoring hit to make it 3-0 turning what could have been another potential 11 pitch inning (before the Bay single) into a 21-pitch affair, leaving him with close to 60 pitches to get the game’s first nine outs.

In the sixth, Hughes pitch count stood at 91, but the score was manageable only down two. The Yankees had just scraped to get a run off Mike Pelfrey in the previous inning and holding them scoreless would give the team momentum.

Angel Pagan worked a nine-pitch at-bat for a double. Then Hughes got Rod Barajas to groundout and Jeff Francoeur to strike out, leaving him needing to get one more out to leave the game with a quality start.

A low pitch count inning could have brought him back for the seventh if it was not for Pagan winning that long battle. Now it was on him to empty the tank.

Alex Cora would pinch hit for Pelfrey and Hughes quickly jumped ahead 0-2. A ball and two fouls extended the count and then the light hitting second baseman grounded a single to right to score Pagan and give the Mets a three-run margin again.

It was pitch number 117 on the night and would be his last. Joe Girardi came to the mound and took the ball from his starter. Hughes threw an astounding 75 percent of his pitches for strikes (88-for-117), but many of them were hittable strikes.

What could have been a strong seven or eight inning outing shrank to only 5 2/3 grinding innings and his highest pitch count total of the year.

In the end, it was his first loss of the season. More than that, it was a learning experience. Knowing that when has a team down in an inning, he cannot let them up and give them extra life.

Consider it just another step in his maturation progress.

Yankee Talk: Subway Series Edition – Bay-side high

Bay’s four hits help pace Mets past Hughes, Yanks

FLUSHING – Nothing is worse for a pitcher than giving up a run when men are in scoring position and there are two outs.

Just ask Phil Hughes.

Four times during the game, Hughes had a chance to escape an inning without giving up a run.

All four times, the Mets got a key two-out run scoring hit to swing momentum.

Those key hits, along with a combination of strong pitching by Mets starter Mike Pelfrey and three innings of solid relief paced the Orange and Blue to a 5-3 victory in the second game of the weekend series in front of 41,343 at Citi Field.

The Yankees had their chances, but continued their struggles with runners in scoring position for the second straight day going 1-for-12, stranding seven runners on base after the seventh inning.

Scoring those runs would have taken Hughes off the hook, but instead the results gave the Yankee right-hander his first loss of the season (5-1) as the team lost for the fourth time in the last five games.

After the Yankees did not score after mounting a two-out rally in the first, Hughes was on the verge of cruising to a 1-2-3 inning of his own. He got the first two outs before Jason Bay doubled and Ike Davis walked. With the struggling David Wright up and a 2-2, Hughes cutter came toward the middle of the plate and Wright sliced it to center for an RBI single to give the Mets the early lead. Angel Pagan would then follow with a shallow single to left to score Davis from second to increase the lead to 2-0.

In the bottom of the third, Hughes once again got the first two outs but then gave up another single and walk to Bay and Davis. Wright came up with his second run-scoring hit of the day when another single to center to give the Mets a three-run lead.

With the lead, Pelfrey went to work, shutting down the Yankees for five shutout innings. In the sixth, the offense mounted a rally of their own after the first two were out.

Robinson Cano singled and Nick Swisher would follow with a double. Francisco Cervelli would then reach on an infield single off the glove of Pelfrey to score Cano and put the Yankees on the board.

At 3-1, Hughes once again was an out away for keeping the score within reach. Pagan led off with a double, but after he got Rod Barajas to ground out and struck out Jeff Francoeur, Alex Cora would deliver a single through the hole on the right side of the infield to give the Mets a 4-1 cushion and end Hughes’ night.

The 117 pitch out was Hughes’ longest of the season, giving up four runs (all earned), eight hits, walking three and striking out seven to increase his ERA to 2.72.

Pelfrey countered with six strong innings, giving up a run on six hits, walking two and striking out five over 108 pitches.

To begin the seventh, the Yankees got the first two men on for the heart of the order against reliever Jenrry Mejia. However, Brett Gardner grounded out and Mark Teixeira struck out on a nasty sinking fastball. With two outs, Alex Rodriguez would ground out to third ending the threat and allowing the Mets to counter by coming through with another two-out RBI shit, this time again by Pagan, who would double to left scoring Bay to make it 5-1.

The Yankees mounted their best comeback attempt in the eighth when with lefty Pedro Feliciano in the game; they would load the bases with no one out.

Cano had singled to center and Nick Swisher reached on a hit batsmen. Cervelli would then single to right to bring the tying run to the plate.

Pinch hitter Juan Miranda struck out, but Kevin Russo worked a walk after being down 0-2 to score a run. This brought Francisco Rodriguez came out of the bullpen for a five-out save, only the second time he has done that this season.

Derek Jeter would reach on a fielder’s choice to score another run to cut the deficit to 5-3, but Gardner would ground out sharply to third, ending the threat.

Rodriguez worked himself into trouble in the ninth. After Teixeira struck out again, Rodriguez would single to left. Cano then grounded out to the mound and Swisher singled to right to put the tying runs aboard with Cervelli representing the go-ahead run. However, the Mets Rodriguez struck him out on a breaking ball to end the game.

With the series even, the rubber match will pit both teams’ aces. CC Sabathia starts for the Yankees and Johan Santana starts for the Mets.

Yankee Talk: Subway Series Edition – Javy finds himself

Vazquez effort surprises all

FLUSHING – No matter what takes place the rest of the weekend in the Subway Series, the Yankees can already claim their weekend a success.

They won the game last night, a tough 2-1 hang-on decision over the Mets at Citi Field. However, the biggest story came from the performance of the pitcher on the mound.

Here was Javier Vazquez, a pitcher in search of building back his confidence torn apart by an atrocious beginning to his season where his ERA soared near ten and a fan base and (drive by) media already calling him a bust, unable to handle the pressure that comes with being a Yankee.

It got so bad the team looked out for his “best interest” by nothing pitching him in Fenway Park two weeks ago. Instead, he would start In Detroit and threw seven strong innings, giving up only two runs in a Yankee loss.

On Monday, the team called for him to come out of the bullpen because no one else was available and he struck out Kevin Youkilis and became the winning pitcher when the offense rallied for four runs in the bottom of the ninth against Jonathan Papelbon.

Now here he was on the mound starting at Citi Field in New York’s showcase series where all of the eyes would be on him. Failure here against a struggling Mets offense, a low-middle class National League offense and he might of wanted to book his flight for Siberia.

Vazquez would respond.

For six innings, he was nearly unhittable and the hit that he gave up was a shallow bloop to center by Angel Pagan.

He was so good he probably could have gone the distance, buy on a bunt attempt in the seventh inning in which the Yankees had finally broke through to take a 2-0 lead, it was Vazquez finding out that his night would end.

He squared to bunt and fouled it off. On the next pitch, he got the bunt down to move the runner over. On the way back to the dugout, he shook his hand and removed his batting glove, what he found was a finger that was bleeding and in need of healing.

Night over.

It took away from his magnificent performance. From the outset, Vazquez pitched like a man in control, having belief in everything he was doing on the mound.

Effective pitching comes from confidence and mental stability, two things the Yankees enigmatic right-hander did not have during the month of April.

He had no conviction in any of his pitches. The decreased velocity in his fastball clearly altered his mindset. With that, the crispness of his other pitches suffered.

Perhaps that break several weeks ago was the best thing for him. A chance to clear his mind and get back to the things that made him among the decade’s most consistent pitchers as opposed to the man we have seen as dispirited, lost and at other times, confused.

Two strikeouts in the first inning Friday night set the tone. Two more in the second served notice that was here and ready for this stage. All of the prior stuff about not being able to pitch under the “bright lights” was going for nothing.

You waited for that patch in the game where “Bad Javy” would appear, knowing it is always around the corner where his game crashes oh so suddenly.

His only hiccup was that he walked light-hitting Alex Cora twice, certainly not the man in the scouting report you expect to beat you. However, for the first four innings, no Mets player reached base beside him.

Pagan finally singled with one out in the fifth to take away any possibilities that this could be an historic and shocking night. Any possible trouble ended one pitch later when Rod Barajas quickly grounded into a double play to end the inning.

The sixth saw the Mets once again go quietly. Despite not touching more than 91 MPH on the radar gun, it was his placement of the fastball that made him effective and having hitters swing-and-miss. His curveball and slider had bite to it. When he wanted to throw his changeup, he would have hitters far out in front.

His last pitch to Jose Reyes of the night was a pop up to short that Derek Jeter caught. It was only his 69th pitch of the evening as the Mets went up to the plate swinging quickly and returning to the bench just as fast.

The final line was impressive. Six innings and one hit with six strikeouts. Even though he would not return because of the bruise on the finger, he could leave with only positive thoughts knowing that he is indeed capable of this performance.

For the Yankees, this was like a gift from the heavens.

For Vazquez, it was his way of saying he still has plenty of game left in that right arm of his.

Yankee Talk: Subway Series Edition - Starring role

Yanks get six strong from Vazquez, hold on to beat Mets

FLUSHING – Maybe this is the start of good things to come from Javier Vazquez.

The Yankees would like to say it is more a continuation of his past performance.

All of it, except the ending.

For the third straight outing, Vazquez delivered a solid performance, earning his third consecutive victory as the Yankees need one big hit and then had to hang on for a close 2-1 decision over the Mets in front of 41,382 at Citi Field.

Vazquez, the pitcher much maligned in New York for his poor outings this season and skipped two weeks ago to avoid facing the Red Sox at Fenway Park, appears to have turned the corner, hurling six shutout innings allowing only one scratch hit before a bruise to his pitching hand on a bunt attempt.

Replays showed that injury took place on the attempt before he effectively laid the bunt down. On the return to the dugout, he shook his hand slightly in pain. Upon removing the glove, Manager Joe Girardi and the training staff noticed blood coming from his right finger profusely and immediately removed him from the game.

Taking him out was an incredibly tough decision considering the way he was pitching during the game, dominating Mets hitters to where when Jose Reyes popped up to Derek Jeter with to end the sixth inning, he had only thrown 69 pitches for the evening.

They would need all of those scoreless on this night against Hisanori Takahashi, making his first career major league start.

Takahashi held the Yankees scoreless through the first two before mounting a threat in third when they got the first two men on with no outs. Vazquez’s first sacrifice of the game was followed by Jeter striking out and Brett Gardner grounding out to end the inning.

Another scoring chance went by the very next inning when with runners on second and third and one out, Nick Swisher struck out and Francisco Cervelli flied out to center to keep the game scoreless.

Takahashi threw six scoreless innings of his own, giving up only five hits, walking only one and striking out five over 101 pitches.

Finally, the Yankees broke through in the seventh with some generous Mets fielding. With call-up Elmer Dessens in the game, Swisher singled to center and then Cervelli’s slow groundball fielded by Cora sailed past Reyes into left field allowing runners to move to second and third.

This brought up Kevin Russo, a native of West Babylon, making his first major league start. He got his first hit back in the third, but in the seventh, he would drive in his first runs when he took a 1-0 hanging slider and drove it down the line into the corner for a two-run double to give the Yankees the first runs of the game.

The Mets tried to mount a comeback in the bottom half when Cora singled to left and Ike Davis reached on a throwing error to first by Cervelli. Girardi removed reliever Damaso Marte and brought in Joba Chamberlain, who would strike out David Wright looking and Pagan to half-swing at a slider in the dirt to end the threat.

Chamberlain would deal 1 2/3 scoreless on the night, striking out three and handing the ball off the Mariano Rivera for what was to be a simple save and Yankees win.

Rivera made it look that way when he got Reyes to fly out and Cora to ground back to the mound.

Jason Bay would then double deep off the top of the wall in left and Davis would double into the right center gap to score him to pull the Mets within a run and brought Wright back to the plate with a chance to tie the game.

Swinging at the first pitch, Wright would hit a routine grounder to Cano to end the game and give the Yankees the first game of the weekend series.

Saturday matches up a pair of young, powerful right-handers as Phil Hughes goes for the Yankees and Mike Pelfrey pitches for the Mets.