• Team president, Randy Levine, was subpoenaed today by a state assembly committee investigating the public funding that is being used for the new Yankee Stadium. Levine is supposed to report at the hearing on Wednesday.
• Rickey Henderson got elected into the Hall of Fame in his first appearance on the ballot. Congratulations to him, he really deserves it considering how great a player he was. He ended with over 90% of the vote, but many analysts expected him to get more than he did.
• Former Boston slugger Jim Rice also made the Hall, in his last year of eligibility.
• Mark McGwire, in his third year on the ballot, actually saw a decrease in number of votes. It isn’t looking good for the performance-enhancing drug users- thankfully.
• The final decision on the Cubs sale should be coming later this week.
• The Braves sign Derek Lowe to a $60 million deal
• The Red Sox sign John Smoltz to a $5.5 million deal
• The Yankees will win the World Series in 2009- at least I’m hoping.

The Yankees, as always, didn’t give up as they continued to stay in it with the likes of Darrell Rasner, Dan Giese, and Sidney Ponson stepping up when needed. Brian Cashman responded with a couple of deadline moves, bringing in good replacements for Posada and Matsui with Ivan Rodriguez and Xavier Nady as well as extra bullpen help in Damaso Marte. Yet, the injury bug still didn’t care. It has bit again and Pudge is now out, again leaving the Yanks without a good-hitting catcher. Joba has also been struck, having been placed on the 15-day deal and putting even more pressure on the iffy rotation.

Yet, the Yankees will continue on. We really have no other choice. Andy Pettitte will likely continue to play consistently and Mike Mussina looks like he can keep this up. But, after that it’s still a mess. Perhaps Sidney Ponson will be able to keep up this run, but it’ll have to be something we hold our breath with. Same goes for Giese and whoever the other starter will end up being (for now its Kennedy, but I don’t know how long that will last; hopefully he can surprise us.) Let’s just hope that this group can keep us in it until Joba comes back, if he does this season.

“We seem to take a couple steps forward and then take a couple steps back. That’s frustrating because we’re a better team than what we’ve showed. Some days it’s our offense, some days it’s our pitching. It’s a combined effort. “

There really isn’t much more to say about it. The only bright side of the game was probably the good job the relievers did. Ross Ohlendorf, LaTroy Hawkins, Kyle Farnsworth, and Edwar Ramirez all pitched about an inning and Ohlendorf was the only one to give up any hits/runs (he let up one run on two hits.) The ninth inning was good, with three runs by the Yanks, so maybe that momentum will rollover into today’s rematch against the A’s.

The game is at 10:05EST again and Andy Pettitte will start for the Yankees. Joe Blanton will take the mound for the A’s. You can catch the game on YES.

The game ended with Josh Beckett taking the win and Mussina taking the loss. The Yankees five scores came in the fifth and ninth innings thanks to Jeter, who batted in two, and Abreu, Cano, and Cabrera who each drove in one (Melky’s was actually a homer in the bottom of the ninth.)

Next up are the Baltimore Orioles at 7:05EST tomorrow. Phil Hughes starts for the Yanks and Daniel Cabrera for the Orioles. Hopefully this season will be better against the Orioles than last year, when we split the wins evenly with them.

The offensive onslaught began in the first with homers by both Bobby Abreu and A Rod. A Rod’s home run now puts him as the lone person at number 15 on the all-time career list. And he is only 32! It is an amazing accomplishment and it is great to see him do it in pinstripes.

Now back to the game review… The Yanks went out of the first inning with a 3-1 lead over the BoSox. Then the offense got quiet for a couple of innings before having two consecutive four-run innings in the fourth and fifth. We had one more 4-run inning in the eighth and the bottom of the ninth wasn’t necessary since we had the lead already. The team combined for a total of 16 hits and really just bashed the Red Sox pitchers, especially Clay Buchholz,  Julian Tavarez, and Mike Timlin.

That’s not to say that the Red Sox didn’t do some damage themselves either. Sadly Chien-Ming Wang didn’t have another complete game, instead allowing eight runs in four innings before being pulled. It happens to everyone sometimes, especially early in the year, so its nothing to worry about. The way Wang has played so far this year (excluding this game) has been just perfect and he should get back to that excellence in his next start. On the bright side of the Yankee pitching tonight was LaTroy Hawkins, who allowed only one hit in two scoreless innings. He left with the win as well and Brian Bruney picked up the save.

The Yankees take on the Red Sox again tomorrow night and a win there would mean we take sole control of the top spot in the AL East. The game is scheduled for 7:05EST and will be aired on YES. The starters are Mike Mussina and Josh Beckett.

“All of my pitches were working for the first time. I’m definitely pleased with where it’s going. Each game has gotten better and better. I’m just real happy that I was able to get to my curveball a lot tonight. My curveball has been non-existent.”

It’s great to hear him confident once more. It looks like the transition from the tough offseason will be no problem at all for Pettitte this year.

The game ended with a score of 5 to 3. Matsui hit the only home run of the game in the top of the second. The team had a total of eight hits, which isn’t too high, but they capitalized on five of them, which is great.

Next up are the Red Sox, who we will start a two game series with. Staff ace, Chien-Ming Wang will take the mound tomorrow against Clay Buchholz. The game starts at 7:05EST and will be broadcasted on both YES and ESPN2.

“Andy knows how to win big games, I don’t know if I would call this a big game, but you don’t want to be swept at the start of an eight-game road trip.”

That is definetely true and I think that this game also shows that Pettitte will still be able to concentrate and pitch like he did before this past offseason’s clamor. After Pettitte were Joba and Rivera, both who had a couple more good performances as each didn’t allow a run. Joba and Rivera have been solid this season and I believe that they are the best 1-2 punch in all of baseball for the 8th and 9th innings.

Another bright spot last night was the Yankee offense, which finally scored more than a few runs. It still wasn’t too many, but its a start. I said that the first time the Yanks scored 6 this season and we ended up going back into the offensive slump again, but hopefully this time it will be different. The Bombers ended with 12 hits, including home runs by Alex Rodriguez, Melky Cabrera, and Jorge Posada.

It’d be great if the Yanks can keep this momentum going into the upcoming road games, especially the next three, which are against the BoSox. Game one of the series starts tomorrow at 7:05EST. Clay Buchholz will face the Yanks for the first time. Pitching for the Bombers is Chien-Ming Wang. The game will be aired on YES.