Ouch

What a horrible loss. Leading 4-0 in the 8th and we lose to the Twins, at home, 5-4. That just doesn't happen. I am not a happy camper. I must say I completely disagreed with Girardi's decision to bring Soriano in for the 8th inning. Again and again it is proven that situational pitchers like set-up men and closers do not pitch well when they aren't in their designated situation. Leading by 4 with no one on is not a hold situation and Soriano should not have been brought into the game. David Robertson and Boone Logan were both ready to go and should have been brought in. If either Logan or Robertson would've allowed a run then Soriano could have been used. The Yankees do not have an off day until Monday and now that Soriano has thrown 30 pitches tonight and pitched last night it is highly unlikely he is available to pitch tomorrow night when there may actually be a hold situation. Soriano in the 4-0 8th loaded the bases on 2 walks and a single and then walked in a run. After that David Robertson was brought in and gave up a 3 run dinky double to Delmon Young. C.C. Sabathia is cheated out of another win after 7 scoreless innings due, I think, to poor bull pen management. Should a professional relief pitcher be able to succeed in a situation like that? Absolutely, however it has been shown again and again that they do not pitch well in a situation that is not what they are used to. The Yankees have already changed Soriano's job once, I hate to see it being changed again.

A.J. Burnett

Well perhaps the Yankees most important starter, A.J. Burnett made his first start of 2011. He started strong piling up lots of strike outs early and ended up going 5 innings and allowing 3 runs. Only a couple of walks which is a good sign from A.J. and due to a surplus of Yankee offense was able to get the win. Tex hit another three run home run already meeting his home run total for April in 2010. Russel Martin also hit his first home run as a Yankee, a three run job as well. All in all a nice 10-6 victory for the Yankees and Derek Jeter got two hits, moving within 72 of 3000. Mariano got the save and needs 40 more to tie the all time leader, Trevor Hoffman.

Opening Day!

Well with the exception of Oakland and Seattle, every MLB team has played! The As and Ms are playing as I write and are locked in a pitchers duel, which was to be expected. The Yankees won 6-3 on the strength of home runs by Tex and Granderson! It is nice to see Tex hit an early HR considering he only had two all of April last year. Granderson hit his bomb off a lefty which is always good news and his work with hitting coach Kevin Long seems to be paying off. Sabathia and Verlander both pitched pretty well in the cold rainy day game in the Bronx but the Yankee bull pen proved dominant allowing no base runners and securing the win. Can A.J. Burnett put together a quality outing as the Yankees #2 starter? I think he can. We will know soon enough. Yankees Tigers 4:10pm ET on Saturday April 2nd. In other news Brandon Belt got his first Major League hit on Thursday and his first Major League home run Friday. I have him in 3 of my 4 fantasy teams so I'm happy about that!