I'm very excited to make good use of the mlb iphone app for the audio of this. With my new job I'll be listening to more games this year instead of watching. But I'm really looking forward to it!!

See, now, you're confusing me. I thought "Action Jackson" was Austin Jackson, not AJB. I even went to wiki to find out that the AJ stands for Allan James.

I'm easily confused. Have pity.

Interesting lineup today. I guess sitting Posada makes sense but our cleanup hitter is Nady? wow.

I'll consider it a victory if Burnett gets through the game without getting hurt.

I really didn't have a good feeling about Wang yesterday (long layoff, so-so spring, vs. an unknown pitcher), but feel good about AJ. I'm confident the first Yankee starter strikeout will be recorded.

Burnett: Its pointless unless you go to the World Series

I'll assume he means win the World Series. That's a serious point in his favor.

So, we have the Sunday lineup going, huh?

[3] [7] Swisher playing RF = good. Nady DH'ing = OK. Nady hitting cleanup = WTF?

Then again, does the ordering of the lineup really matter for a single game? Probably not, so maybe I shouldn't care.

I'll never understand the mentality in baseball that if you have several players to rest, the proper move is to rest them all on the same day.

Ransom
Gardner
Molina

where rallies go to die.

I feel really good about AJ today, but this lineup? It would be nice to have reasonable expectations of putting together some good pitching and some good hitting. Well, if Gardner can get on base a couple of times in front of Molina ...

it is up to AJ now.

I was going to say A Jax but Cliff told me that's Austin Jackson's nickname. Dag.

"He's conquered the injury demon!"

He had one healthy year!

2 Ks in the first. That puts A.J. ahead of CC + CMW combined, IIRC.

1 K put him ahead of CC and CMW combined

AJ's breaking ball looked SHARP in the first. Hot dog!

Burnett's breaking pitches are so much more fun to watch when he's pitching for your team.

Damnit, I'm so glad I paid all this money for mlb.tv and gameday audio and it refuses to load. Not that I wanted to listen to the game at work or anything.

Oh God. We're gonna be in the building with Ponson.

We'll trade for him.

Are the Yankes hitters pressing ALREADY? And without A Rod in the hizzee?

Gardy breaks up the perfecto!

Go-Go Gardner.

This has double play written all over it

c'mon jetes!

Well, that was better.

That was familiar.

I'm planning my Toronto trip, and I was on the Blue Jays website, and I could have sworn I saw something that said "Meet the Jews."

I'm fairly certain it didn't, but I giggled.

avg w/ RISP < 0?

2 outs. Man on 3rd. Kryptonite. HorsheSh$%!

When was the last time you saw a stolen base standing up?

I am excited to see how another team gets a guy in from 2nd base. : /

Our RISP this series is around .150. The problem is not our offense, but lack of timely offense.

This is not the guy I want to see in this situation.

[33] Ha, what else is new?

It's too bad there has to be such an important at-bat in the bottom of the third.

Onions.

Get Burnett a bat. He's fired up.

Now we're cookin'.

Whoa.
Our way of scoring a run seems a lot easier than theirs.
Quicker, anyway.

I was gonna call that HR beforehand. I had a feeling.

BOOOOOOOOOOO

(thats how I cheer Tex)

I like this new kid we have at 1st. Maybe we should sign him to a long term deal.

Dice-K has served up two homers already.

WHO IS THAT GUY? He looks like Cano, but Cano doesn't walk.

if Cano isn't careful he's going to turn into a selective hitter

Good job by AJ striking Aubrey out to get out of that pickle. And swell to see Tex go deep.

I'm very sorry Alex, but I cannot think of a Passover Joke with "schneid" in it.

I fail, just like with my feeble round of golf this morning. At least I got lots of practice in... and I didn't hurt myself...

: /

I'm more pumped on the Cano walk than the Tex HR. Awesome.

Yum.

Now I remember: baseball is fun!

SWISH SHOT!!!!!!!!!!!

[49] How 'bout now?

woo hoo!

I'm gonna end up buying a Swisher shirt at Stan's on opening day...it's going to happen.

Holy moly, I think that fan just gave Swisher a home run! It would have been a helluva catch, but I think Markakis had it.

Passover Joke? Passover Joke???
What's the difference between a Jewish girl and a gentile girl?
(com'mon... somebody ask...)

[56] you already asked

Dice-K dishes another dinger.

Stop the madness and start Swisher. Sheesh.

[58] watching him get shelled never ever gets old

[58] 1,000 pounds of awesomeness!

someone here just told me that none of dice-k's pitches have topped 88 MPH. if that's true, that doesn't bode well for him.

pavano let up 5 runs? so surprised!

[63] I hear it's because he's not well. Some kind of injury.

[64] nope, i won't believe it!

This is kind of weird, the Yankees have more runs than the Orioles. Is there a name for such a situation.

[66] order. it is called order.

[66] Please be careful with what you say....

I actually have no info about Pavano. I was just deducing his injury from fundamental principles.

luke scott's mullet is buechellesque.

Sweet.

[68] i apologize. you are right. i am a little punchy today. look at what my steve buechelle reference did.

sorry, people. i'm sorry.

How many runs has the Orioles' running game cost them in this series?

[56] Yes OYF, we had some fun with Alex's "Is You Is" article yesterday, as well as with Emma's from this morning, too. I'm surprised my tribute to Gilda Radner's Emily Litella character (based on her childhood nanny) with "the honor of blowing the chauffeur" bit would do much better than it did. It has in the past in any event. Shame on you New Yorkers who missed it, too! I mean, who is more NYC and Jewish than the late, great Gilda Radner?

Oy...

;)

Burnett is gassed.

2-2 already? Man I hate Pie. No, wait. That sentence doesn't look right.

Pavano's final line: 1 IP, 6H, 9 ER. But at least he's healthy.
Sox and Dice-K down 4-0.
A man in the stands at Angels stadium gets in a fight, is punched, falls and hits his head, and dies. Yikes.

I think it's an Internet prerequisite to, in fact, "like pie."

I'm just sayin'...

;)

My worst baseball suggestion in life may have been wanting the Yankees to sign Pavano.

The Yankees team line through 2 games:
.282 10 runs .366 .521 .887.
Not bad for an ARod-less team.... unless you talk about RISP.

Looks like Jeter's on the decline again ...

You're fired!

[77] seriously? my god!

[80] Yup, it's the distribution and the low leverage aspects that have been a problem.

[79] who didn't though, honestly?

That was a quick top of the fifth. AJ needs to throw two innings like that himself. He's thrown 74 pitches through four.

Yeah Burnett looked like he was going to get sharper and sharper at first, but it went in the opposite direction. I guess his endurance isn't quite there yet, cause he does look gassed at 80 pitches or thereabouts. Lots of hard hit balls.

[77] after the news this morning, too. that's terrible.

[77] I feel bad for whoever hit him ... I'm guessing they weren't attempting murder.

Can we get alcohol out of these places now? Probably not.

[85] You got your wish.

AJ is really showing some guts.

At least A.J. looks like he's pitched in a MLB game before!

Pavano's ERA is 81.

[90] He is. I like that. (See [37].)

Hey Yo AJ, nice job, tough guy, well done. Give us 3-6 more outs and yer golden.

[92] Good thing he's healthy!

[93] Nice.

Another run here wouldn't suck.

I swear I've seen Teixeira take 5 first pitch strikes right down the middle the last two games.

I just got back from work, but Sterling's Teixeira HR calls? A "Tex message to the stands" and "he hit that ball right on the Mark." Unforgivable. Only a Cano walk could assuage my ears. Thankfully, he obliged.

[85] 74 pitches already? Oy. Looks like the bullpen is going to get used a lot again.

And somewhere, Scott Proctor's arm is breathing a sigh of relief.

[100] Scott Proctor is on the DL with a sore arm.

I was going to text that tidbit about Pavano. I use the intuitive text thing, and when you type in 72826, it thinks you want the word "Satan".
Coincidence?

[98] He clearly needs a new approach to hitting.

/ Nady

At least Cano can hit.

I think A.J. would really endear himself to the team if he plunked Roberts, Jones, or Markakis, with two outs. He missed the chance just now, but got Markakis to swing at one in the dirt. Ya know, show them he's a force to contend with and all as a parting shot to the most inhospitable O's and both of their fans!

That's what they used to do anyway...

Cano en fuego.

I was having a discussion with another Yankees fan yesterday at Camden yards about Cano, and I think I converted him to a Cano fan. He had that view of Cano of lazy and not caring, but I think I got him to appreciating his smooth-ness.

[105] I would rather not invite a plunking of Tex

[98][103] Leave him alone! He's the new Donnie Baseball! Don always took a strike...

Start him!

Yum, two big helpings of Pasta Diving WIggington!

Russ Ohlendorf shutting out the Cardinals through 6. Always liked him - nice to see he's getting a chance to start somewhere.

[108] I was kidding, he can do whatever he wants, he clearly knows how to hit baseballs well. And I was sarcastically pointing out that I think it's a bit early to start picking out the "flaws" in his approach.

I think Gardy gets the run in here - maybe not a hit, but a sac of some kind.

[108] Agreed... like C.C. opting out already... sheesh!

;)

Lets just attribute that rushing to Gardner's speed, shall we

So much for Alfredo Simon, URP. See? Like I said last night, the Yanks have been getting guys on just fine. Get guys on, and in time, they come to score. I'd gladly take another two or three right here.

Peeked in on the Mets game to see Sheff's at-bat. Man, he's packed on some pounds since his Yankee days.

I don't blame O's fans! I'd stay away in droves too...

Depth in a pitching staff is almost as good as pie!

;)

[117] I noticed that last night too, the one that really struck me though was Griffey. Someone made a couple of extra trips to the buffet line over the winter...

Awesome.
Somehow the bonehead defense and cheap crap bloops don't seem like they detract from the game today.

"The Yankees are again up in a situation of situational hitting."

Yeah, that seems to happen a lot.

Hmm, I really like this philosophy of scoring lots of runs.

Hmmm.
Jeter's slowing down, huh?

[123] did it look that way? i'm just on audio. i wonder how much jeter's high GIDP rate is related to his tendency to hit the ball from 2nd to short.

[117] Yeah, he wasn't bullshittin' about "I'm not ready to play in the outfield everyday." He hasn't been that way since he was a Marlin!

[124] It really didn't look that way, but the grounder sure didn't look like a DP ball, either.

Damn.
We need AJ to finish this inning.

Guess not. Lefties coming up, so it makes sense.

I am getting worried about the BP's short term endurance - Lots of usage, and we can probably expect Joba to go short in 2 days. Hopefully Andy can handle the Royals and go deep into the game.

hopefully the starters start going deep next rotation through the game

Wow.
Somebody make a good Coke joke. I thought of two, but they are so lame I won't even post them.

i really like coke.

[131] Have a Coke and a smile?

2 Ks looking -- I'm smiling.

[131] coke invites cheesy jokes actually and i'm totally cool with that.

[133] Okay, that was one of mine. The other (since you so bravely posted one) was "Things go better".

My only managerial critique is I would have used Molina with Wang and have Posada go with the power pitchers and Pettitte with his move to 1B. That would make it easier on him to throw runners out. Does anyone know who Molina has caught the most since he's been with the Yankees? I would rather him handle sinkers in the dirt, personally...

[112] I didn't say it was a flaw.

[136] Off day on tuesday made it make sense to use Po monday and wednesday

[135] How about: Coke's good between the white lines.

This is the Robinson Cano we all love. (don't ya know)

robbie!!

Wow! Cano for MVP! And with walks yet!

Oh boy.
This is going to be a fun season for Cano. And this is April! When he's always sucked!

CANO!!!

2-3, 1 HR, 1 BB

maybe he's turning into A-Rod (sans the strippers, 'roids, Madonna and um...)?

Dontcha know???

[139] Snort.

[144] Only when he starts hitting "meaningless HR's!"

;)

[147] they were up by 5 runs when he hit that one.

"HRs when +/-5 Runs" was an obscure stat that i recall hearing from rodriguez detractors.

[148] Precisely!

[147] Maybe he can come out and say how he and Melky no longer have sleepovers ;)

[150] It's enough that he isn't gritty or dusty. The hell with him. Selfish bastard.

Go Go Gardner!

[150] Alas, @ 26, he's too old for Madonna...

Hold on, I just realized, we're winning a game against an URP for a crappy team. Is that even possible? Is that one of the signs from Revelations?

Gardner looks a little like Paul O'Neill.

It was fun watching Melky throw guys out, but all-in-all Brett is a more entertaining player.

Ooooh.
This is Joe's way of putting in a LIDR for Jeter, right?

[154] And AJ is not injured and Pavano sucked for another team, while Farns was giving up bombs for another team. sweet.

And Brett's job is safe.

[154] Well, we did have a trumpeter on here recently...

:O

that is a nice defensive team. with melky in left, gardner in center, swisher in right i like that outfield defensively

[160] Yeah. And SS. And 1B. This is not the kind of configuration we ever saw last year, huh?

[146] touche'!

Good pitching and timely hitting sort of changing things...

[154] here's the test: does anyone know who karim garcia is?

[161] not at all. It is nice to see. Though, I do know Jeter's limited range but I still like him in there. Probably more sentimental than anything else.

When Bruney can throw enough strikes to set up that high fastball, man, he's tough.

My man!
Pena's thinking, "I would have had that one."

[161] [165] Plus Molina behind the plate, and (presumably) GOOD Cano at 2B. Quite a late inning combo

[160] The best outfield the organization will be Gardner in LF, Jackson in CF, and Melky in RF. Not many gappers falling with those three! I can hardly wait!

[164] He (Garcia) had a monster WBC! Believe it or not...

Sox have an 8th inning 2-out rally going.

[169] They better not allow any hits to fall at all. Melky in RF would be a bit below replacement offensively.

Love me some Robbie.

Another hit for Cano. I know this is just one game, but if he keeps this up, man its going to be fun to watch him. Much better than the pop up to the 3B version from last year.

And the Sox' rally ends, Jed Lowrie Ks.

[173] It's not just one game -- he was on base twice in each of the first two.

And it's April. What if he makes his typical April -> August improvement?

Jesus.
Four runs for Cano today! And five RBI for Swisher!

Xavier Nady, meet the bench. Nick Swisher, meet RF. Please, please, please make him the starter Joe.

[175] He becomes the first player since Ted Williams to hit .400?

Nick Swisher is one hell of a bat off the bench / part timer

Hideki Okajima's ERA is 54.
But he's no Pavano.

Who's this scrub pitching? Must be an inning-eater.

I predict Kevin Long works with a few more Yankees during the next winter!

:P

Wow, Giambi sure has improved his fielding!

Okajima cuts his ERA to 27 by getting an out.

Okajima's ERA down to 18.
This is like watching the Dow in January.

[183] He's catlike!

Ball game.
Happiness is... Mo with a nine run lead.

[186] How about treelike or mountainlike?

Nice.

Boo Yah!

Okajima loads the bases with two outs, now faces Gabe Gross.

Time for the Masters! Lata friends!

I like pie and Yankee wins!

Nope, Masterson in, and pinch hitting for Gross is... Gabe Kapler!

This could very well be the first time in MLB history that a Gabe has pinch hit for a Gabe. How appropriate that it happen on Passover!

Ciao, PJ.

Varitek homers to open the bottom of the ninth.
Troy Percival's ERA is undefined!

The best part of the day was the epic fail by Carl Pavano.

[196] Mine was seeing a Yankee starter actually record a K.

I still pick Pavano.

What was Cleveland thinking?

[196] Can it really be an epic fail if its Pavano we are talking about?