Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon, and Alex Rodriguez came to Joe Torre’s defense yesterday, because as a result of their team’s play, his job status is in jeopardy.

Now I’m not going to kill Torre and blame him alone for the team’s struggles. Sure, the injuries have played a role. But this team just doesn’t seem to have its head on straight. Their approach at the plate seems absolutely miserable. On Friday night against Matsuzaka, in the first game of the series, the Yankees were way too aggressive, swinging early and often. One would think they would try to work Matsuzaka and get into the Boston bullpen in the first game of the series, leaving them reeling for the second two games. Only in the 4th inning were they patient, and scored their only four runs of the game.

Pettitte needs to give a better start too. You can’t be walking these guys, especially Lugo and Youkilis. His pitch count skyrocketed and the Red Sox got the tying and go ahead runs without a hit. Wang too needs to give a better effort.

Also, there’s no excuse for not putting runs on the board against Julian Tavarez. That’s a joke. A three-run shot by Mientkiewicz is all? Come on.

Bobby Abreu also has some explaining to do. You’re a major league ballplayer. Get the **** bunt down. Multiple times in the series Abreu came up with two on and nobody out, and failed to get the runners over. He and A-Rod were miserable the entire series.

Back to Torre, who is not without fault either. His decision making has been bizarre. I don’t know when he’s going to learn to stop pinch-running in the 7th inning, only to see that spot in the lineup come up again in the 9th. It happened last Friday in Boston, and Kevin Thompson made the final out. It happened once in Tampa Bay, and again on Saturday. Two of those instances were with two outs. It’s a waste. Just leave Giambi in the game. It’s going to take a great play to throw him out. The percentages are with you. Leave him in. If it’s the 9th inning, fine. Not the 7th.

Also, why is Sean Henn facing Manny? Please someone explain that one to me. He comes in to face Ortiz – ok. But take him out after that. My God. I know Myers hasn’t had much success against Ortiz but what do we have him for? If you’re not going to trust him to get out the other team’s top left-handed bats then get rid of him.

I probably would have left Bruney in for the 8th inning on Saturday. He had a quick 7th, not many pitches at all. Cardiac Kyle is a high-wire act. Bruney should be the 8th inning guy soon enough. He is money out of the bullpen – has easily been the most reliable guy this season and at the end of last.

The schedule sends us to Texas next, a team we should pound on. But so is Tampa Bay and Baltimore, and that hasn’t worked out so well. This team better pick it up and pick it up in a hurry or there is going to be some changes. I don’t want to see Joe go, but he hasn’t done anything this season that suggests he should stay.

Surely this is no time to hit the panic button. Coming into the series, looking at it objectively, the Red Sox should have taken two out of three games with the Yankees throwing two kids out there on Saturday and Sunday. The offense allowed them to hang tough in those games but long balls did them in and caused them to lose both.

Friday was the important one, and we let it get away. That was the game that had to be had. I always say that Mariano isn’t nearly as effective when he comes into the game in the middle of an inning. I don’t know what it is, but any time he struggles that seems to be the case (except for last Sunday in Oakland).

Despite the sweep, there isn’t all that much to worry about. We’re destroyed with injuries right now but most are minor and our ace is coming back tomorrow night. The week brings two road games in Tampa Bay before coming back home for two against Toronto and then another 3-game set with Boston. There’s no excuse not to go at least 3-1 before having to play Boston again. Games against Tampa Bay and home games against Toronto have to be won, because the Yankees and Red Sox are bound to beat up on each other.

When the rematch comes next weekend our starting pitching match-ups will be much more favorable, as both Pettitte and Wang will throw against Boston. With that in mind, and given what happened this weekend, the Yankees have to take two out of three at home. Any worse than 5-2 for the week coming up is a problem.

Win these games like they should, and with the team getting healthier, everything will be fine.

Well today’s game was about as unbelievable as it gets. Two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the ninth, trailing by four, the Yankees mounted an incredible come back. Josh Phelps homered, followed by a Jorge Posada single, a Johnny Damon walk, a Derek Jeter single, and a Bobby Abreu single that cut the deficit to one and brought up who else: A-Rod.

Watching the game you’re thinking there’s no way he can possibly do this again. Cleveland closer Joe Borowski threw a ball in the dirt to start the at bat, allowing Jeter and Abreu to move up to second and third. This meant A-Rod only needed to hit a single to win the game, as Abreu has good speed and would likely score. But that just wouldn’t be dramatic enough. A-Rod got a 1-0 flat fastball and hit a taser into the Yankee bullpen for a walk-off 3-run home run.

After the wild pitch, I thought manager Eric Wedge would elect to walk A-Rod and bring up Jason Giambi. But Borowski came right after Alex and paid for it.

A-Rod now has 10 home runs in 14 games and I am convinced that this will continue, while not at this torrid pace, for the rest of the season. He’s stopped flying open and shortened his stride, keeping his front side closed and allowing him to get to the baseball a lot quicker. His swing is not nearly as long as it was last year. It’s much more short and compact, but just as powerful.

While everyone cites the mental side, A-Rod’s mechanics were completely out of whack last year. Now, after working with Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long, A-Rod is back to his sweet stroke of old and is primed for an MVP and maybe one of the best offensive seasons we have ever seen. Yes- Ever.

Scrambling for starting pitching, the Yankees called up lefty Chase Wright from AA and he did a solid job. He seemed a bit nervous and it was important for the Yankees to get him some run support off of Jake Westbrook, which is exactly what they did.

We scored 8 runs in the first two innings, three of which came on A-Rod RBIs who continues to rip up opposing pitching. And even his buddy Doug Mientkiewicz hit a rare home run. With a seven run lead after two innings, Wright settled down and just threw strikes. The defense made all the plays behind him, including a great spinning throw up the middle by Derek.

From there the Yankees coasted along to an easy win, and one they really needed. With the depleted rotation, the Yankees are going to have to score a lot of runs in the next two weeks in order to be successful as it’s unlikely Wright, Darrell Rasner, Jeff Karstens and Kei Igawa are going to be throwing gem after gem against Cleveland, Boston, and Toronto…

One thing really bothered me last night: A-Rod’s last at bat was absolutely horrendous. It seemed like he didn’t care. He swung at two fastballs down and away and took one of the weakest hacks you’ll ever see at a curveball. Sure the game was in hand and it seems like no big deal, but that is how you get into bad habits as a hitter. There’s no excuse to lose focus at the plate no matter what the score. He needs to treat every at bat as just as important as every other and try to work the count into his favor and get a pitch he can drive. That strikeout was pathetic and I hope Alex realizes this and won’t let it happen again.

Tonight’s pitching match-up is Jeremy Sowers vs. Igawa. The Yankee offense will likely have to carry the load once again as Igawa just doesn’t seem ready for a lineup like Cleveland’s.

Mike Mussina cruised through his first two innings. His velocity was up from his last start and he seemed to be locating his fastball wherever he wanted. His curveball looked like it had a lot of bite to it as well. And then he was done for the night, and maybe for the rest of the month. Moose took himself out of the game with a hamstring problem, something that kept Cano out for 35 games last year. It’s uncertain how long Moose will be out but you can be sure he won’t be pitching his next two times in the rotation.

Despite Moose leaving early, the Yankee bullpen had only given up one run entering the 8th inning. Sean Henn came on in relief and pitched well, going 3 1/3 and giving up one run that Scott Proctor let score when he relieved Henn in the 6th. Through 7 1/2 the score was tied at 1, the Yankee run coming on an A-Rod sac fly in the 4th inning.

In came Kyle Farnsworth and then things got out of hand. The Twins put up a four spot in the 8th, ensuring themselves of a win with closer Joe Nathan finishing out the game in the 9th despite it not being a save situation. Farnsworth was flat out awful, surrendering four runs on four hits and a walk and registering just one out. It appears he still is trying to find himself, something he has been unable to do since wearing pinstripes.

It can’t all be on Farnsworth though, as the Yankee offense scored merely one run on three hits off of Ramon Ortiz. Ramon Ortiz!!! This is another classic Yankee performance where their bats go dormant against a pitcher they should really pound. Three hits off this guy is inexcusable. His stuff is solid at best and he tends to let games get away from him rather easily, yet the Yankees barely threatened him at all and he had an easy go of it.

To single out someone on the offense – Giambi looks awful. He is popping up a lot of balls that should be line drives and he seems uncomfortable at the dish. The guys is our 5 hitter and supposed to be an high on-base guy, but is currently hitting .167. He needs to get himself right in this Oakland series coming up.

The Yankees will start their series with the A’s on Thursday as Kei Igawa will have a chance to redeem himself for his dismal first start. After 8 games the Yankees are 4-4, with only 2 good performances (the first two games against Minnesota).

Moose seemed like he was going to provide a solid start tonight, but with the injury, has left even more rotation questions then there have been. The bullpen performed well aside from Farnsworth, but without Mussina and Wang, the Yankees will be scrambling for a fifth starter. Jeff Karstens could start in place of Mussina next time around if he is ready in time, as he has been throwing recently. Either way, the offense and bullpen will have to step it up more than they already have. A rotation that features the names Igawa, Pavano, Karstens and Rasner is pretty scary and Giambi and co. will need to pick up the slack before the Yankees see a bunch of losses pile up.

It’s only his second start and only the 9th game of the season, but Friday is a big game for Igawa and the Yankees, as they need to recover from this loss and get off on the right foot in Oakland.

At this point, I don’t know what to say about A-Rod. The guy is out of his mind right now (well, he always is, but this time in a good way). Six home runs in the first seven games, and 15 RBI. I don’t really want to say too much. Let’s just ride this out as far as it goes. I’ll say this – if he is going to be his normal self this year, the Yankees are going to score 1000 runs.

The real story of the night was Andy Pettitte providing the Yankees with another strong performance on the mound for his 150th win in pinstripes. Dandy Andy went 6 strong shutout innings, giving up 4 hits and a walk. He looked very comfortable and was attacking the strike zone, not really falling behind anyone.

So far, this series has been a big confidence booster for all involved. Everyone is swinging the bat fairly well – even Melky had 3 hits tonight and looked much better at the plate.

Moose takes the hill tomorrow before we head out west and a series sweep over the defending Central Division Champions could be huge. Moose looked lousy his last time out, with his fastball topping out at 85 mph and he was not able to locate it. That could have been a result of the cold weather and the rain out throwing off his routine, so Moose could bounce back tomorrow. It will be very interesting to see his velocity and control tomorrow against a team that can grind out at bats.

The Yankees have gotten out to early leads in both games of the series and tomorrow night that would be a huge lift once again. They’ll be opposed by Ramon Ortiz, who has a live arm at times, but once he gets hit a bit he can unravel in a hurry. A couple first inning runs tomorrow night could allow the Yankees to coast to a sweep. We’ll see…

Finally a starting pitcher gave us some innings tonight. Didn’t think Carl Pavano would be the one to throw the first gem of the season. But the much-maligned right hander looked very strong tonight, cruising through seven innings allowing two harmless runs on six hits, and NO walks. He only struck out two but pounded the strike zone and let his defense makes plays.

Speaking of which, the shaky Yankee defense looked spectacular tonight. Jeter made two great plays, with a Mientkiewicz pick on the end of one, A-Rod has been flawless since the first inning of Opening Day, and Robby Cano added a web gem up the middle. A lot of strikes and great defense lead to an easy 2 1/2 hour 8-2 win.

The top of the lineup was great tonight, with Damon (2 hits, walk), Derek (3 hits), and Abreu (3 hits, HR, 4 RBI) getting things going early and often. A-Rod’s swing looks great, going yard to right field yet again, his third home run to right of the season and fifth overall.

This was a great team win, a well-played all around game for the Yankees. It was extremely encouraging to see them play so well after a tough loss yesterday, especially behind a great outing by Pavano. It’s important for them to start winning series after series, and with Pettitte and Mussina going the next two days in normal temperatures, they are in position to have a good series to get the ball rolling this season. Hopefully Pettitte can find the zone this time out and let his defense play behind him as Pavano did. Never thought I’d be hoping for Andy Pettitte to pitch like Carl Pavano. But a win is a win, and if Pavano has a couple outings like the one he had tonight, it is going to take a lot of pressure off the bullpen and make things a lot easier for Joe Torre.

The only gripe I had tonight was that Torre did not let Pavano finish the job. He had only thrown 79 pitches through seven innings and with a six run cushion, could have very easily gone the distance and given Bruney and Farnsworth an extra day of rest. Hopefully Pettitte will allow them to rest tomorrow.

I know it’s early and no, I’m not at all worried about making the playoffs, but this pitching staff is not going to cut it in the long run. Yes, Rasner is not supposed to be in the rotation and we are missing Wang, but before we could get one time through the rotation, we saw Andy Pettite coming out of the bullpen on his throw day to help give the relievers a break in a 6-4 loss to Baltimore. Wang will be fine, and Pettitte too. But Mussina and his 85 mph fastballs worry me, and Igawa looked flat out awful. Pavano could go either way but he’ll probably hover around 4.80 with his ERA this season.

It’s becoming very clear that Phillip Hughes will be hear sooner rather than later, and that Brian Cashman will be busy come July. This lineup is still plenty good enough to out-slug teams all season long but the last two years have shown us that they won’t be able to come October…

Matsui is on the 15 day DL after leaving yesterday’s game with a bad hammy and Damon is still hobbling around, as is Derek and Abreu. Sure could use Bernie now. Torre probably never thought he’d have to use Cairo in left field before the Yankees even played a road game. As it stands, none of the injuries are too serious and Torre is right to be extremely cautious with Damon, especially now that we’re headed to Minnesota and that **** turf. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Giambi play a little first base so that Damon could DH. Today’s lineup that saw Phelps, Cairo, Nieves, and Melky seemed dead all day and was stimied by Baltimore’s Eric Bedard, except for A-Rod’s two run shot in the first.

Heading into Minnesota, the Yankees will luckily not have to see Johan Santana, who won today in Chicago with another unreal outing and was a Joe Crede blooper away from threatening a no-hitter. Pavano, Pettitte and Mussina will go for the Yankees, and it’s important that some of these guys start to get going.

After an awful outing from Kei Igawa, who looked like a high school pitcher the way he couldn’t throw anything off-speed for a strike, the Yankees found themselves in the game thanks to an A-Rod first inning no-doubter and a Giambino 3-run shot in the 8th. With Mientkiewicz lining out to first and Melky (who has looked lost at the plate) going down on strikes, things looked all but over in the 9th. But then Robby Cano (who amazes me every time I watch this kid hit – he’s unbelievable and will soon be regarded as one of the best hitters in the league if he’s not already) singled up the middle and it all became so clear…

Derek was up so you just knew the game wasn’t quite over. You also knew that A-Rod wasn’t going to get left on deck. I turned to my father after Cano’s single and said "Well you know what’s going to happen now. Jeter’s going to single and Abreu will walk to bring up A-Rod with the bases loaded and the game on the line."  Well it didn’t work out exactly that way (Jeter walked after swinging at a pitch that hit him, and Abreu was drilled in the leg), but the stage was set for Alex as if it couldn’t be any other way. He even said after the game, "I had a feeling it was going to come down to me." It seems to always play out that way, Alex. Normally though, everyone is expecting a strikeout (because the guy guesses so **** much at the plate, especially in a big spot, which is why he struggles) or a pop up (when he misses the pitch he wants).

On this day though, things were different. Chris Ray inexplicably threw a 1-2 fastball (the fourth straight fastball of the at bat) and A-Rod hit a laser into the black seats in centerfield, a walk-off grand slam with 2 strikes and 2 outs. The place was rocking, A-Rod was thrilled, and Jeter forced him into his curtain call (woohoo they’re friends again – ridiculous that this even was talked about).

So this all begs the question: Is this year going to be different for A-Rod? And will the fans lay off him now that he came through in the clutch? The answers are ‘maybe’ and ‘of course not.’ This year could be different for Alex. Maybe this opt out clause has cleared his dense head. Perhaps he’s not so worried about everything because he thinks he has an escape. I don’t buy this but who knows with this guy. He’s a head case. As for the fans, give me a break. This is not his first clutch hit or even walk-off home run. He won game 2 of the ALDS in 2004 that would have seen the Yankees down 0-2 to the Twins heading to Minnesota had they lost that game. He’s hit walk-off home runs against Oakland and Atlanta (a 12th inning shot last year) as well as a big grand slam against the Mets. He got curtain calls. He got many more boos soon after. After the grand slam against the Mets he got booed for popping up in the first inning the next night.

This soap opera is far from over, but at least for right now, the rollercoaster is on the way up.

I’m going to get this blog rolling, I promise. Pictures from my bleacher seat and game commentary will arrive shortly. As for the first three games, the bullpen still worries me. I think Vizcaino is a little overrated and Farnsworth will undoubtedly be the key. Injuries to Damon and Jeter this early are frightening though neither seems to be serious. Hideki and Jorge look awesome, while Giambi has missed a lot of good pitches to hit. Tomorrow is another day.