The Oakland A’s outrighted pitchers Kevin Cameron, Dan Giese and Edgar Gonzalez and catcher Eric Munson to Triple-A Sacramento, the club announced today.

Cameron was with Oakland from April 29 to June 2 and had a save and a 3.44 ERA in 11 relief appearances with the A’s. He also had a 2-1 record, one save and a 2.77 ERA in 10 relief appearances with Sacramento and was on the Triple-A disabled list from June 12 to Sept. 1 with a neck strain.

Giese was 0-3 with a 5.32 ERA in seven games, one start, with Oakland before undergoing “Tommy John” surgery June 9.

Gonzalez was recalled from Sacramento on May 19 and spent the balance of the season with Oakland, posting a 0-4 record and a 5.51 ERA in 26 games, including six starts.

Munson spent the entire regular season with Sacramento and hit .265 with 13 home runs and 68 RBIs in 99 games. He was called up to Oakland on Sept. 11 and went 0 for 1 in one game.

Carlos Delgado is out ten weeks to surgery on his impinged hip – the new injury of the new decade. The Mets can cope as they have a few outfield options and could choose to give one a shot at first base. Fernando Tatis for now. Still – this could be troublesome, costing the team about two to three games in the standings if they can’t find a comparable replacement.

Rickie Weeks went down to a wrist injury, leaving the Brewers with difficult choices in their lineup. He’s having surgery to repair a torn sheath – similar to David Ortiz a while back – and may affect his really quick bat. Weeks is a great fielder and a decent enough hitter who was really putting it together. For now, the Brewers look to platooning and may call up an infielder from the minors. Craig Counsell is probably the best fielder, but Casey McGehee can play some. This is probably worth five wins over the next four plus months in terms of lost productivity.

Eric Chavez’s back is REALLY bad – he said a degenerative disk is so bad that the next pop in his back will require fusing disks and end his career. One day after announcing that, Chavez has reversed that to some degree, saying that he hopes that strengthening and stretching will help, but he’s really just trying to avoid another surgery. Jack Cust has been playing third. As many other writers have reminded Oakland fans, they signed this guy to a six year deal for a LOT of money ($66 Million) and then missed more than two seasons worth of games…

Noah Lowry had problems with numbness in his hand and underwent surgery to fix issues in his forearm. That didn’t work, and now doctors are calling it a misdiagnosis of a circulatory problem and will be removing one of Lowry’s ribs – costing him this season, too. Once a prospect, Lowry’s career is on the brink as well. Others to have had this surgery? Kenny Rogers and Jeremy Bonderman.

Josh Hamilton came off the DL, strained his groin, and now is missing a couple of games and hoping not to go on the DL.

David Ortiz took a series off and will play today hoping to get his first homer of the season. Wow. That’s a sentence, huh?

Jason Kendall got his 2000th hit against the Cardinals. MLB.com, in reporting the story, says that his teammates celebrated by putting the honor on the labels of specially marked Bud Light bottles. BUD LIGHT? Not Miller Lite??? Either the reporting is wrong, or somebody should tell whoever put this together that the Brewers play in Milwaukee.

Todd Helton looked like he got his 2000th hit last night, but it was ruled an error. Some are suggesting that the official scorer may reverse that decision (it was a SHOT past a ducking Yunel Escobar). I hope they saved the ball.

Nate Robertson’s back feels better, but he’s not ready to pitch in a rehab start.

Speaking of Tigers, Magglio Ordonez is the second player given time off to attend to a personal matter (Minnesota’s Delmon Young is caring for his extremely ill mom), so Detroit is calling up prospect Wilkin Ramirez. Ramirez is a free swinger who can run some – but there are some odd things in his record. He gets caught stealing more than you would like, and he strikes out as frequently as you get advertisements for credit cards in your mailbox – at least once or twice every day. Ramirez was hitting well in Toledo, though, and earned the shot.

Pat Burrell is on the DL with a neck strain.

Glen Perkins is on the DL with inflammation in his left elbow, as is Oakland’s Dan Giese – though with Giese it’s his right elbow and tied to his ulnar nerve. C’mon, say it with me. He’s got some nerve!

Need saves? David Aardsma is the new closer for Seattle. Until recently, Aardsma’s biggest claim to fame was moving ahead of Henry Aaron for the first spot in your baseball encyclopedia thanks to alphabetical superiority.

The Mets’ Alex Cora injured his thumb sliding into second base and now is on the DL. Cora was playing because Jose Reyes has swelling in his calf (see Jose Valverde) and has called himself “day-to-day” for six days now. (What player on my team isn’t day to day???)

Speaking of day-to-day, Cincy’s Joey Votto has had dizzy spells following a bout with the flu and didn’t make the trip home because he couldn’t fly with the team, so he’s being watched in San Diego.

On the mend? Tom Glavine, Kevin Youkilis, Rick Ankiel, Ryan Ludwick, and Hiroki Kuroda. Glavine’s recent simulated game went over well.

Want a crazy story? Read this.  Says here that Vin Scully very nearly became the voice of the Yankees.

Ever the dynamic, unpredictable person, I’ve incorporated a few of David’s suggested categories, added one of my own, and thrown together another couple pages of baseball insights.  We’re surprisingly low on Red Sox-related things, but with upcoming series against my hometown Indians and the loathed Yankees and Rays, I’m sure to make up for that next week.

Rhetorical Question of the Week: What the hell is this?

Just because you occasionally hit notes that make you sound like Bono doesn’t mean you should subject the world to your work*.  Whoever thought it would be a good idea to play this before games at Progressive Field needs to be fired. Was ownership too cheap to spring for the rights to “Cleveland Rocks?” What exactly is the story here? (And lest anyone say I’m just  negative about all team-specific music that isn’t entrenched in baseball history, new songs CAN be done effectively when assigned to people who have musical experience beyond Guitar Hero. Case in point:)

I mean, come on.  “It’s Tribe Time Now?”

Underrated Addition: It was just last week that I pilloried the Nationals for demoting a reliever with lousy 2009 results, but they seem to have realized where their standards need to be. Case in point: Robert Meiklejohn MacDougal, better known as Mike. MacDougal was released by the White Sox after starting 2009 with a line that makes Javier Lopez look effective, but with no hope of contending and a bullpen already dealing with injury issues, Washington was wise to take a chance on him. To say he has control issues is like saying Oedipus had some family problems, but in the last four MLB seasons, MacDougal has allowed just 4 home runs in 92 innings. For a team like Washington, he should quickly become a bullpen fixture; the worst-case scenario I see is cheap innings from the pen, with the upside that a pitching-starved team could make trade inquiries once MacDougal re-establishes himself.

Why Do You Still Have A Job? As seems to be a new trend, this section of my posts is again a rare look at an unliked NL club. This week’s unvaluable player is Cardinals reliever/spot starter P.J. Walters, who has as many innings on the young season as closer Ryan Franklin, and more than several potentially decent setup men. That total is, of course, skewed by the one start he made, a surprisingly solid four-inning effort in Chicago. In the six-plus innings since, however, he has descended to abominable levels of futility on the mound, with four walks and three home runs to just three strikeouts (and, for those who give weight to defense-dependent stats, a whopping nine hits). Walters has remained in St. Louis’s bullpen while better arms toil at AAA, including those of Brad Thompson and Jess Todd. While he’s only 24, Walters’ minor league numbers give little reason to think he’s about to turn a corner – while he posted solid enough totals in 2007 (mostly in A ball), his 2008 was plagued by 22 home runs in 158 innings – not acceptable in the majors, and certainly not to AA and AAA competition. On top of that, his control eroded at AAA, and he surrendered 62 walks in 122 innings. Perhaps his success in the low minors (coming at a relatively old age) is reason to think he can be a useful piece in time, but there’s no excuse for the Cardinals keeping him in the bigs; even if they lack confidence in their internal options, they’d be better off trying to resurrect the career of Mike Timlin than trusting Walters with meaningful innings.

Perfect Hindsight: On April 4, the Yankees designated pitcher Dan Giese for assignment.  It was a questionable move, considering their lack of a long man and the unproven nature of some of the arms they were carrying, but not one that figured to be a moment of regret.  Not even a month later, I have to believe that New York GM Brian Cashman thinks back wistfully to spring training.  While Giese has had some problems in his time with the A’s, his track record is solid enough (including a frustratingly respectable 2008), and he has still outpitched those who took his job as the final man in the Yankees’ pen. Now, as they prepare for the Red Sox’ first visit to their new stadium, the Yankees are forced to call up pitchers like Anthony Claggett (who has yet to establish himself at the upper levels of the minors, and was responsible for much of the Indians’ 14-run inning two weeks ago) to bridge the gap to underwhelming setup man Jonathan Albaladejo. Their offense, even sans A-Rod, is potent enough to be considered a playoff contender, but with a more reliable innings-eater available, they would be downright terrifying.

Shrewd Move of the Week (Or “Overdue and Obvious Call-Up of the Week”): The Indians finally picked the right outfielder to aggressively promote, sending down the disappointing Trevor Crowe for Matt LaPorta, whose torrid hitting at AAA seemed too valuable to be overlooked by a club that consistently fielded only two good outfielders.  Though LaPorta struggled  at AA last year after the trade that sent him to Cleveland for CC Sabathia, he should quickly learn to outhit Crowe, Ben Francisco, and veteran David Dellucci.  Considering the Tribe’s pitching troubles (and continued insistence on leaving Jeremy Sowers at AAA), an earlier call-up wouldn’t have helped them avoid falling into a deep hole in the standings, but finally shuffling the pieces (including the promotion of 2B Luis Valbuena) should at least give them the best major league lineup they can muster going forward in 2009.  With so many teams ahead of them, and unable to string together consecutive wins, it’ll be incredibly tough for the Indians to get into the playoff hunt.  But now, they’re finally using the right players to make that effort.

Player of the Week: I continue to doubt that the Royals can hang around at the top of the AL Central for the whole season, but that’s largely due to an underachieving offense – including a black hole at shortstop and the due-for-regression Alberto Callaspo and Willie Bloomquist.  As far as the pitching goes, however, I’m increasingly impressed, and could see the Royals’ staff being one of the better in baseball.  The highlight, as anyone following baseball this year knows, is Zack Greinke.  Greinke finally wound up with a nonzero ERA this week, but his numbers are still staggering enough to merit every bit of praise he’s received – and this is no trifling praise, considering how much I try to avoid talking about players everyone else talks about.  Having allowed a .286 average on balls in play, he isn’t having his stats inflated by the defense behind him.  He has more strikeouts per 9 innings pitched (11.00) than any American League starter, and is 11th in walks per 9 (2.00).  The worst one can say is that he’s been lucky not to give up a single home run, but even accounting for that, he posts an xFIP under 3.00. His team has won every game he’s started, two of which he also finished. Greinke has finally lived up to his stuff and become a true ace; considering that the well-documented issues he’s had have had nothing to do with his physical health, there may not be a more valuable pitching commodity in baseball.

* Yes, this admonishment does apply to Bono himself on occasion, though I’d like to hear U2 help Africa with “Hey Hey Hey, H.I.V./It’s AIDS Time Now.”

The Yankees were in a slump that although it was only April, was sending shock waves all across the Tri-State area. After being swept by the Red Sox, which included the now infamous slap to the face known as Ellsbury stealing home plate on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, and then not being able to hit Justin Verlander who last year and this year has been hit more times then a pinata in a loss to the Tigers had sent the Yankees and their fans into pandemonium.

Not to fear….PHIL HUGHES IS HERE. (Cue the Superman music)

After the Yankees has let him go down to the Minors and let Joba pitch in the starting rotation, which he shouldn’t be, the Yankees watched as Chien Ming Wang went from bad to worse and they had to call up the big Texan to take his spot.

Phil Hughes is a pitcher that everyone had high hopes for a few years back, he had a No Hitter into the seventh inning against the Texas Rangers, in Texas mind you, before a leg injury during the game derailed him for the year. Then the next season, he was thrown under a ton of pressure by Brian Cashman after he didn’t pull the trigger on the Johan Santana deal and told anybody who would listen, and the NY media loves to listen, that Hughes was going to be a huge part of the plan.

He failed early on, got hurt and a Sidney Ponson and Dan Giese later, the Yankees ended up mssing up the playoffs for the first time in a non strike year since 1993, in the final year of the Old Stadium no less. It was fair to say that Mr. Hughes had alot on his plate heading into spring training this season.

He excelled during the Spring and had people believing in him again, that he was the real deal and was a bright spot for the Yankees in the future. Of course that future just happened to be on April 28th in a near half empty Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan.

Hughes would pitch 6 shutout innings against the Tigers , and once the Yankee bats exploded to the tune of a 10 run top of the 7th inning, Hughes, who had thrown 99 pitches, had earned his first win since 2007.

“He looked really good,” said Yankees manager Joe Girardi, who said he took Hughes out because of the length of the New York seventh. “He had his legs under him tonight.”

Phil Hughes has alot to learn about being a major league pitcher, especially being 21 years old and pitching for the New York Yankees. He will have his moments of greatness and failure and his job is to make sure the greatness is reached and the failure is minimal.

“I feel like I’m back to where I was a couple years ago,” Hughes said. “I just wanted to pitch well and earn another shot.”

Phil Hughes earned his shot last night and all the Yankees and the fans want now is for Hughes to finally become Superman.

-The Falk

I was not home during a majority of the game so I could not do a live blog on the game today. I did get to see part of the game, from about the time when the Yankees managed not to score with the bases loaded and nobody out. I saw Melky’s walkoff, which was great. I do have a feeling Girardi had a little chat with Melky after the game about how he kind of just watched his homerun fly into the seats Manny style. Anyway, it was a fun to watch. Unfortunately that walk off home run was off an old friend, Dan Giese. I am not going to summarize the whole game since I did not watch the whole game, but I will direct you to the boxscore. The Yankees are off tommorow, and they will play the Red Sox on Friday. It will be Joba against Lester.

While Joba Chamberlain might not be having the greatest spring in history, his record is still perfect at 4-0. It wasn’t pretty, but the job got done. That just seems to be the way of the Yankees right now. Some of them haven’t been having wonderful springs, and some of them have, but they just seem to get the result every game. That kind of good luck streak will hopefully continue on into the season. Last season we weren’t the luckiest team in the game, which might come back to help us this year if you invest in the idea of karma. Now much was made before this game about Joba Chamberlain not being able to hit the mid 90s on the gun anymore. Apparently that wasn’t the case today, as one scout claimed to Joba clocked at 96. There goes that issue. Another issue that has clearly been put to rest would be that of the starting centerfielder. While Melky Cabrera might not be the starter, he sure didn’t play like it today. Melky went 1 for 2 with 3 RBIs and a run scored. Gardner didn’t do too bad himself, going 3 for 4 and getting an RBI of his own. Cody Ransom picked up the other Yankee RBI on a 1 for 3 day. Mark Teixeira did well for himself going 1 for 2 with a double and scoring a run. The Yankee offense once again scored just enough to bolster the pitching staff. As noted, Joba Chamberlain started the game off and went 5 and 1/3 innings. In those 5 and 1/3 innings allowing two runs and recording six strikeouts. He managed to get himself into a jam in the sixth inning which Brian Bruney came in and got the Yankees out of. Edwar Ramirez pitched the seventh and allowing an unearned run. Phil Coke and Dan Giese pitched a perfect eight and ninth, respectively. While Robinson Cano might not have been the lineup today, he was in the news. I don’t think I can stress how important he is to this team this year. If he’s on then this lineup will be scary. The work that Kevin Long did with him over the summer has apparently done wonders for him.

My swing feels great. I feel so happy about the changes I made. Everything I swing at now, I’m seeing better. I’m not swinging at any bad pitches. I really appreciate Kevin Long coming down and helping me. That’s the kind of coach you want to have on your team. He doesn’t care if you are a superstar or a rookie, he is there to work with you.

I surely hope Cano is right about not swinging at any bad pitches. This team has built a reputation around taking a lot of pitches over the years, and pitchers absolutely hate that. If Robby can do it, then it’ll just be one more area of annoyance for them. Something that the Yankees might not have been recently know for is their defense. That has definitely improved this year, especially with the signing of Mark Teixeira. The Yankees go around the diamond, and seem to have solid fielders in every position (No I don’t want to get started on Derek Jeter). ESPN has an interesting take on how defensive statistics are evolving. Baseball is a game of statistics, and it will always be. But there’s a point where we need to draw the line and think about a player as just a player. Jimmie Foxx dominates Lou Gehrig in almost every statistical category one could think about, but there’s no way I’m going want Foxx on my team over Gehrig. There are just some things that numbers can’t explain. Alex Rodriguez is a perfect example of guys who have all the numbers on their side. This year will tell us if he’ll really a notch in the category that really counts: Championships. Speaking of A-Rod, his rehab has continued to go well, and he should be back in the lineup by mid-May. Tomorrow the Yankees will play their final spring training game before heading up to New York to play a couple of exhibition games in the new Stadium. CC Sabathia will make his final start of the spring to prepare for the opener against the Orioles. He expects to throw around 60-70 pitches. Right that’s all for now. Pregame tomorrow sometime before the game. Until then, Let’s Go Yanks.

It’s official — Jonathan Albaladejo will be the final cog in the Yankee bullpen, as Dan Giese, Brett Tomko and Alfredo Aceves will pitch for Scranton. With JA on board, the Yankees will have one of the better bullpens in the AL.

From Chad Jennings:

Assuming the Yankees decide to carry a long man, which one do they want? Dan Giese has had the worst spring of the three candidates, Brett Tomko has had the best. Giese also had much better numbers than Tomko last season. It’s also worth noting that Tomko would have to be added to the 40-man. He could be added in place of Giese, but then Giese would have to be passed through waivers and quite possibly lost to a team like San Diego that badly needs pitching. Tomko’s out doesn’t kick in until June, meaning he has no choice but to accept a minor league assignment if the Yankees decide to go that direction.

From Ed Price:

The woeful Padres “will claim anybody” who goes on waivers, an executive said. “They’re dying for pitching. They’re slowly trying to go back to more power arms.”

Often times we ponder player moves without thinking about the detailed procedural process behind such moves. While Dan Giese isn’t a power arm, by any means, a team that is in dire need of pitching, especially one like San Diego with its large ballpark, could step in and steal him if the Yanks try to add Tomko. If they do decide to go without a long-man — an option Joe Girardi put forth yesterday — then the team can actually retain its depth rather than deplete it, early in the season (all 3 long relief candidates would go to the minors).

Courtesy of Mark Teixeira, the Yankees defeated the Atlanta Braves today, 6-4.

Tex, facing his old team for the first time as a Yankee, had two hits, including a solo homer in the 5th inning. Xavier Nady and Melky Cabrera both went 3 for 4. Cabrera had 3 singles and one run. Nady had three singles and one RBI.

Three pitchers competeted for the long relief role today. Brett Tomko strengthened his chances by pitching three scoreless innings, with one strikeout and one walk. Al Aceves also pitched three innings, allowing one hit and run, and one walk with one strikeout. Dan Giese was off this afternoon, allowing three runs to score in 2.2 innings pitched. Edwar Ramirez closed the game for the save.

The Yankees face the Pirates in Tampa at 1:15 with AJ Burnett making the start.

The Yankees are now 18-10-1.

The Yankees lost for the second game in a row Monday, falling 8-3 on a wet day in Clearwater, Florida, the spring home of the Philadelphia Phillies.  Prior to Sunday’s loss, the Yanks had won 9 straight.

Chien Ming Wang, who was originally scheduled to start a minor league game today was penciled in as the starter after the minor league game was rained out.  The Wanger was decent, but certainly not great.  He pitched five innings, allowing three runs on five hits, while only notching two strikeouts.  He took a 2-1 lead into the sixth inning, before allowing a single and a double before being pulled.

Brian Bruney took over for Wang in the sixth and continued his horrible pitching. After letting Wangers’ two baserunners score, Bruney allowed two runs of his own to score.  He was pulled for Dan Giese, who promptly allowed three runs to score the next inning.

Bruney had joked about pitching bad this spring and wondered if he would make the team.  Girardi had said that was never going to be a question.  I don’t think its a joke anymore.

At the plate, the Yanks couldn’t managed much.  They managed only three runs on 9 hits.

The Yankees are now 14-10-1, with their next game scheduled for Tuesday night at Steinbrenner Field against the Red Sox.

The Day’s News and Events:

Joe Girardi announced that if the season started today, Xavier Nady would be the starting right fielder, meaning Nick Swisher would be on the bench.

Multiple media outlets have reported that Alex Rodriguez’s rehab is going well.  He is expected to join the team at some point in April.

The Yankees wasted little time after reading my blog post yesterday, sending Kei Igawa down to AAA.  Apparently they still see him with a future in the organization.

Finally, it was announced that the Captain, Derek Jeter will return to the team Tuesday, just in time for a night game against the no-good, dirty, rotten Red Sox.

Jeter had been captaining the USA team in the WBC.  USA was eliminated by Japan Sunday night.  Japan now tries for its second straight WBC title against Korea Monday night.

So the Yankees lost for the fifth time in the last 6 games. they are now 2-5-1 during this spring training season.

With the Yankees missing 1/4 of their lineup due to the WBC, this gives the minor leaguers/lifers a chance to prove themselves.

The Yankees lost to the Braves, 3-2.

Ian Patrick Kennedy started the game for the Yankees and in three innings two earned runs on three hits and a walk. Dan Giese also pitched three innings, allowing one run on two hits and a walk while striking out three.

Andrew Brackman threw one perfect inning, and Mark Melancon also threw one scoreless and allowed just one hit.

The bulk of the Yankees’ offense came from Johnny Damon who went 1-for-2 with a walk, a triple, and an RBI, and Juan Miranda who went 0-for-2 with a walk and an RBI.

The only other Yankee to pick up hits were Xavier Nady who went 1-for-3 with a run, Angel Berroa who went 1-for-3, and pitcher Dan Giese who went 1-for-2 with a run scored.

The Yankees host Canada at 1:15 tomorrow at Steinbrenner Field. Joba Chamberlain gets the start.

PS: The box score of the game earlier today is here.

2008 Topps Mets Jerry Manuel

After a couple days of junk mail filling the mailbox, I got three more envelopes from Florida and my first two from Arizona today.

The highlight was this Jerry Manuel card, signed in silver Sharpie.

It’s from the Mets gift set that Topps put out last year that included cards for the coaches and some bench players that were left out of the regular set. (I hope that Topps brings back the concept for 2009, but I wish they’d leave out the autograph and lower the price back to $19.99.)

Manuel did a good job handling the mess he inherited last year and I’m very interested to see how things go this year when he starts with a clean slate.

I also got a pair of Yankees autographs today. It may seem a bit funny for a Mets fan to pursue Yankees autographs, but I will usually write to the Yankees rookies each spring if I have cards for them. I think it’s the whole familiarity thing, since they keep getting coverage in the local media.

2008 Topps Update Dan Giese

Dan Giese pitched reasonably well in limited time with the big club last year, making 3 starts and 17 relief appearances. He’ll be trying to win the long relief role this spring, and at age 31 is not likely to become a big star.

Giese has an unusual signature that I’m glad I don’t have to decipher. He appears to have made a reference to Psalm 23.

2009 Topps Phil Coke

Lefty Phil Coke also pitched well in limited duty for the Yankees last year, though all 12 of his appearances came out of the bullpen. At age 25, he has a much better chance of developing into a solid major league player. He seems to be ticketed for a bullpen spot in 2009.

This is my first signed 2009 Topps card; this year’s design looks much nicer signed since it doesn’t already include a pre-printed autograph. I like the posed spring training shot; it is nicely reminiscent of the old-style cards. I don’t think I’d want to collect a whole set with photos like this in 2009, though.

2008 Topps Heath Bell

From Arizona, I got a Padre and a Mariner. Heath Bell came up through the Mets farm system, but he couldn’t stick in the Mets bullpen. The Mets traded him off to San Diego before the 2007 season, and Bell blossomed there.

Bell is in good shape this spring; thanks to Wii Fit, he lost 25 pounds since last season. The Padres’ closer job appears to be his to lose this year.

During Bell’s tenure in New York, he was one of the good guys who always seemed to have time to sign a few autographs for the fans before a game. It’s nice to see him enjoying some success, but he would have looked good out in the Mets bullpen last year.

2009 Upper Deck Historic Firsts Don Wakamatsu

Don Wakamatsu was a career minor league catcher who spent a little bit of time in the big leagues with the Chicago White Sox in 1991. Since his playing days ended, he went on to coach. As Upper Deck helpfully points out, last year the Seattle Mariners made Wakamatsu the first Asian-American manager in the Major Leagues.

This is my first signed 2009 Upper Deck card. I guess I was lucky to pull a 2008 Historic Firsts card that was baseball related.

So far, I’m 6 for 60 this spring.

The Yankees played a great game today, beating out the first-place Rays with some efficient baseball (moving runners around, Giambi’s SF, etc.) and the occasional power surge (Nady, A-Rod). Mike Mussina was a lot of fun to watch as he earned his 17th victory on the season, striking out 8 in 6 innings of work. Hopefully Moose will get his 20th win this season, but it’ll likely come down to the wire. The most he’s ever had with the Yankees was an 18-win campaign back in 2002, and, amazingly, this could actually end up being his best season with the club.

Even though Moose was pitching well, things got a bit hairy in the 7th, but Damaso Marte was summoned upon to get some outs and was impressive, striking out 2 (I was watching MLBTV and the Rays’ radar gun had him hit 99 mph, which is probably inaccurate, but still very impressive since it was probably off by only 2 mph or so). The 7th inning wasn’t all Marte though, as Joba Chamberlain returned and did his thing for an inning and 1/3. He wasn’t particularly polished, but he’s been on the DL for about a month, so as long as he got the outs and was hitting the upper-90’s with his fastball, that’s all that really matters. Dan Giese came in for the final inning and also looked good upon his return (1 IP, 1 K). Giese has been an integral cog in the Yankees pitching corps this year, so although he’s generally an unheralded player, he’s really done a nice job when presented with some opportunities.

Finally, before I wrap up, I’d also like to point out that A-Rod, who tied Mike Schmidt today with his 548th career homer (12 on the all-time list with Reggie Jackson in his sights), looked good at the plate. He was being patient, he was taking close pitches, he wasn’t diving towards the outer edge, and he looked very comfortable up there. That wasn’t exactly the case a few days ago, though it looks like he’s turned the calender page rather quickly. In August A-Rod was hitting .243 with 16 RBI. Two days into September (the season is flying by), he’s 5-for-9 with 5 runs and 5 RBI. It’s looking like he could have a huge month, as he’ll try to continue his torrid pace with Edwin Jackson on the bump for tomorrow’s game (A-Rod hits .333 with a 1.042 OPS against him).

Chad Jennings is bringing us some more news today, this one is rather important considering the Yankees upcoming schedule. He lets us know that Dan Giese will be activated from the DL on Tuesday and will join the Yankees for their series against Tampa Bay (he won’t be around for the game against Detroit). Also, with the rosters expanding tomorrow, we’ve learned that Phil Coke and Chad Moeller will join the team for their game against Detroit (making up a rainout), while Joba will also return to the team on Tuesday (as a reliever). In addition, Bryan Hoch reminds us that Melky, Dave Robertson, Hughes, IPK and Justin Christian may also get a call up in light of the expanding rosters (it could help Hughes and IPK log more innings, if nothing else).

But, what role will he return to? Joba and Giese are both out with shoulder issues (Giese has shoulder inflammation but says it’s not related to his rotator cuff or labrum, while Joba has rotator cuff tendinitis) and both will complete throwing sessions today. Joba will throw fastballs and changeups and, depending on how he feels after the session, he could return return to the active roster immediately thereafter. However, Joe Girardi has not stated whether or not Joba will used as a reliever or a starter upon his return. They could have him come back as a starter for a game or two, but if the team continues to sleepwalk through the final weeks of the season, he could be shutdown altogether or used as a setup guy again.

UPDATE (10:55) — Ed Price believes Joba could return as a reliever (initially) since minor league seasons will be coming to an end, effectively limiting a variety of rehab assignment options for Joba. The return to relief could help him build his arm strength up again, but I would think he would stay in that role for the rest of the year if the Yankees went that route (and I don’t think they want that to happen since his starts are so valuable). Switching a guy, back and forth, more than once in a season has to add stress on the arm. It’s two different roles, two different mentalities, two different styles.

Before Friday night’s opener against the opener, OF Melky Cabrera was demoted to AAA and 1B Richie Sexson was waived. To take their place, OF Brett Gardner and INF Cody Ransom were promoted. Cabrera has been a black hole in the lineup since May. Sexson has struck out too much and hasn’t done the job against lefties. Gardner has been deserving, as he’s been great in AAA since his demotion, and Ransom has legitamate pop and should have a .250-ish avg with more speed and versatility than Wilson Betemit.

Britton is up for the umpteenth time this season to replace Dan Giese, who was placed on the 15-day DL on Thursday with rotator cuff tendinitis.

Not much to say today, just another set of bad news. Whenever you see that the name of the injury a pitcher suffered is called “rotator cuff tendinitis”, well, 99% of the time that pitcher is going to land on the DL. Joba suffered that injury, well, he landed on the DL. Now long reliever/starter Dan Giese also got injured while throwing 15 pitches in relief of Darrell Rasner vs. the Minnesota Twins.

Guess what. The injury is rotator cuff tendinitis…again. And yeah, history repeats itself as Giese got himself a seat on the 15-day DL. The news came out after Giese was examined by Dr. Chris Ahmad at the New York Presbyterian Hospital. Giese was originally scheduled to face the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday (next) but now that hes’ injured, the most likely candidate will officially be Darrell Rasner. I, for one, would like to see Phil Hughes instead of Rasner, though. Hughes can’t be worse than Kennedy, can he?

The other topic shouldn’t be addressed as much, because everyone in Yankee Nation knows this already. Every Game is Important. The Yanks have 41 games remaining on the schedule—and they must go 30-11 to make the playoffs. Now I’m just saying 30-11 because the Yanks have 64 wins currently. 30 more would give them 94, and 11 more losses would add up to a grand total of 68, which is probably unlikely. I figure 94 would be the minimum number of wins to make the playoffs. The Rays would probably falter with several stars injured, and the Sox would likely end up with a win-loss record along the lines of 96-66 or 98-64.

Every game down the stretch is crucial. The pitching, hitting and luck must come alive again. 30-11 is a major miracle, but the Yanks at least have a chance of getting it.

Dan Giese finally got a second chance in the Yankees rotation and threw a solid six innings, striking out five and allowing just one run (earned) against the Angels on August 9th. Now, he’s headed to the DL with rotator cuff tendonitis, which has also afflicted Joba Chamberlain. Perhaps Phil Hughes will skip his next start in Scranton in favor of the Bronx.

Dan Giese is headed to the DL with rotator cuff tendinitis (sound familiar?). Another one bites the dust, I guess. Darrell Rasner, who pitched fairly well in his last start, will reportedly start in Giese’s place since the Yankees don’t want to rush Carl Pavano or Phil Hughes (the Yankees want to see them hit 100 pitches in a rehab outing before calling them up).

Here’s a quick batch of interesting bits.

1. First, Jon Heyman is reporting that the Yankees are willing to offer Brian Cashman an extension when the season is over (it looks like it could end early too). This makes sense for the team since Cashman has done a good job emphasizing the young talent (pitchers, in particular) in the Yankees’ system. He has also come through with some nice trades this year (Nady-Marte), trades that will help the team now AND in the future (control over Nady for another year, Marte’s option). In addition, Heyman notes that Hal Steinbrenner has been a huge Cashman supporter (that was obvious) and that his blustery brother Hank, has really come on to support Cashman as well. There have been rumors of a possible Seattle jump for the Yankee GM, but if Heyman’s report is accurate, that doesn’t seem likely.

2. Next up, we have some newsworthy comments from Peter Gammons. According to Gammons who is a loyal Red Sox enthusiast, the Yankees, specifically Brian Cashman and Hank Steinbrenner, are not interested in pursuing Manny Ramirez in the offseason. Now, this could be a legitimate bit of information or it could be disinformation meant to throw off Manny’s agent, Scott Boras (so as not to expand the market). I actually hope Gammons’ sources aren’t accurate. While I can understand why Brian Cashman, who is friendly with Theo Epstein, and Hank Steinbrenner wouldn’t want to see Manny in the Bronx (attitude, antics, etc.), I really do hope that they reconsider. We know what he can do with RISP and he’s a proven hitter in the AL East (and on the biggest of stages). Next year, the Yankees could let go of Bobby Abreu and install Manny Ramirez in RF (scary, I know), or they can figure something out with Hideki Matsui. I honestly think that Manny is worth it and as we watch our main RBI guys flounder with men on, he seems even more valuable.

3. Gammons also notes that the Yankees want to save their FA money and spend it on CC Sabathia (instead of Manny Ramirez). While I like CC, I still think investing in some more offense (along with pitching) would be beneficial to the team. This year, they’ve had some solid starting pitching (from unexpected places), but their offense has totally underachieved. With Derek Jeter looking older than ever (and he’s only getting older), and with more than a few question marks in the Yankee lineup, whether we’re talking about Robinson Cano’s numbers or Posada’s ability to play the entire season (2009), having a great hitter like Manny in your lineup and behind A-Rod could certainly help next year. Furthermore, there are some reports floating around which state that CC would like to play in the NL and for a west coast team (he lives there), so it’d be foolish for the Yankees to save all their money for one player (all your eggs in one basket).

4. Finally, Dan Giese left yesterday’s game with a “stiff” shoulder. He’ll see a doctor later today. Hopefully he’s alright and can return to the pen in a few days.

Dan Giese left today’s game with a “stiff right shoulder”. Right now, that phrase is meaningless until we hear more. Joba Chamberlain had a “stiff shoulder” and is now out until September. This will probably increase Phil Hughes’ chances of returning next week, which would be somewhat premature. But, if Giese can’t make his next scheduled start (Tuesday), it’ll probably happen.

This 10-game road trip has been a disaster for the Yankees. They are 2-5 through the first 7 games, they have lost 3 games in the AL East to Tampa and 1.5 to Boston in the wild card. Not to mention, they lost their ace-to-be Joba Chamberlain.

What’s interesting to note is that the Yanks had a lead in each of the 3 games against the Angels this weekend and could not hold any of them. Ian Kennedy got rocked again Friday night and said..

“I felt like I made some good pitches,” he said. “I’m not too upset about it. … What was it, a bunch of singles and three doubles? I’m just not real upset about it. I’m just going to move on and I’ve already done that.”

…wow, did he really say that? That earned him a first class ticket back to AAA Scranton. Good move by the Yankees. He later apologized for those comments, but come on you got to be smarter than that.

Saturday, Dan Giese pitched 6 solid innings giving up only 1 run, but the bullpen blew up thanks in part to an 8-run 8th inning. The first 6 runs came before the Yankees recorded an out. Ouch! Joe Girardi was asked how he felt watching that 8-run 8th unfold…

“What do you think? You think it’s fun watching that crap?” Girardi snapped. “Silly question.”

…I agree.

Sunday, the Yankees were again ahead in the score, but could’nt hold on. This time a baserunning mistake by Alex Rodriguez in the 7th ended a chance at a rally that could’ve broke a 3-3 tie and a walk by Damaso Marte in the 9th to the 9th place hitter set up the game winning single by Chone Figgins. Those two plays sealed the Yanks’ fate this weekend.

“We had a lot of opportunities. We have to blame ourselves,” said Abreu, who grounded to second with the infield in and a runner on third in the fifth inning. “I wish I had an explanation. I don’t think we understand what’s going on.”

The Yanks have a chance to redeem themselves with 3 games against the Minnesota Twins. A team they trail in the wild card by 2.5 games. It’ll be worth watching to see how the Yankees respond to being swept this weekend in Anaheim. 44 games left to go.

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