AGRI Biz

Yankees manager Joe Girardi wasted no time pulling starter A.J. Burnett after 6 2/3 scoreless innings once Burnett surrendered a two-out single. But the skipper was nowhere to be found as reliever Joba Chamberlain struggled through the eighth inning, eventually yielding the tying run. Such is baseball in the 21st century. So is this: With runners on first and second and no one out in the bottom of the sixth, Francisco Cervelli stepped to the plate ...

After dropping two of three at home to the Phillies, the Yankees are now just 21-20 against teams with winning records, compared to a staggering 20-5 mark versus losing clubs. In fact, New York hasn't taken a series from a team with a current above .500 winning percentage, aside from the Twins, since beating the Red Sox on May 7 and 8. The Bombers have a chance to reverse that trend in ...

The Yankees had their six-game winning streak snapped in Boston on Sunday, but the Bombers still stand just a half-game back of Tampa Bay and the best record in baseball as they visit the Tigers and two familiar faces. Johnny Damon landed in Detroit this past offseason after the Yanks opted not to re-sign him, and he's off to a great start, batting .294 with a .409 on-base percentage and 14 ...

The Yankees are off to a great start at 12-6, but that record is primarily in spite of their offseason moves, not because of them. New York made two big trades this past winter, while swapping out two free agents for two new ones. Let's see how those moves are working out three weeks into the season. Curtis Granderson for Austin Jackson, Ian Kennedy, and Phil Coke The Yankees acquired Granderson in a three-team ...

The Yankees have won their first five series, including last week's triumph over the Angels, but now the Bombers head out to Anaheim for a rematch in a stadium where New York has not had a great deal of success over the past 15 years. Then again, this doesn't appear to be the same Halos team the Yanks have battled during the past decade-and-a-half. Los Angeles has been mediocre out of ...

The Yankees have won each of their first three series by a count of two games to one, and they'll hope to keep that success going this weekend as they welcome the Texas Rangers to town. The Rangers are 5-4, tied in the loss column with first-place Oakland, and have received some solid pitching so far. Texas is third in the American League with a 2.95 ERA, fourth in batting average ...

He's only two starts into the 2010 season, but Javier Vazquez is not providing the depth promised when the Yankees acquired him via a trade in December. After a 5 2/3-inning debut in which he surrendered eight runs against the Rays, the right-hander once again failed to escape the sixth frame on Wednesday, when he yielded four runs in a 5-3 loss to the Angels. Vazquez is now 0-2 with a 9.82 ...

He just couldn't wait to get out there. Manager Joe Girardi appeared to be out of the dugout before Kelly Shoppach's line drive single to left hit the turf in front of Brett Gardner with two outs in the eighth inning. It was the Rays' first hit of the afternoon off CC Sabathia and with the big lefty at 111 pitches in his second start of the season, Girardi basically sprinted onto ...

So it was all for nothing. The innings limits, the pitch limits, the extra days off between starts the Yankees forced Joba Chamberlain to undergo during the second half of 2009—that rendered him impotent come the playoffs—under the guise that they were "protecting his arm" so that he could at long last become a full fledged starter this season...it was all a lie. Tossed aside because of 3 2/3 spring innings. That's how ...

Entering Monday, many pundits believed Phil Hughes had all but locked up the fifth starter's role in the Yankees rotation, but by 4 p.m., everything grew a bit hazy again. Coming off a solid three inning, three strikeout, one run performance against the Phillies on Wednesday, Joba Chamberlain, Hughes' main competitor, again pitched well in an intrasquad game. He allowed two runs on six hits and struck out one over five ...