From the early moments of what ended up as the longest All Star Game in baseball history, it appeared that a member of the New York Yankees would play the hero in the festivities at Yankee Stadium Tuesday night. As it turned out, the hero would end up a member of the Boston Red Sox—J.D. Drew won the Most Valuable Player award in the American League’s 4-3, 15 inning victory.

From the start, most of the hype surrounding the game has been about the venue, rather than individuals or even team rivalries. But at every point, the Yankees were the story. During pregame introductions, Yankees were cheered, of course, Red Sox were booed, and everyone else received largely indifferent responses.  read more »

With Chien-Ming Wang on the shelf until at least September with a torn tendon in his foot, the Yankees are scrambling to replace one of the few givens in their 2008 rotation. The Wang Replacement Derby is wide-open—expect plenty of quick hooks and Plan B's until New York settles on a pitcher—or trades for Cleveland’s soon-to-be free agent ace, C. C. Sabathia. Here is a guide to the likely participants, in predicted order of usage:

Dan Giese

If possession is nine-tenths of the law, then Giese has the inside track on the position, having taken Wang’s spot the first time through the rotation Saturday against Cincinnati.  read more »

Joba Chamberlain’s adjustment to the role of starting pitcher in the major leagues, taking place under the most intense of media glares and in mid-season, has not been noteworthy for the fits and starts along the way. Rather, what is striking is how few of them he has encountered.

Following an 89-pitch outing with a maximum allowance of 95 pitches against the Houston Astros Friday, which equaled six strong innings in a 2-1 New York victory, Chamberlain is now a member of the Yankee rotation without restriction. He has posted a 2.84 ERA in his first three starts. As he displayed in his most recent start, his rawness can provide some revelatory moments—both of the fact that he has been facing major league hitters for less than a year, and that despite that fact, those hitters have a great deal of trouble with even his mistake pitches.  read more »

While the hysteria over Joba Chamberlain continues in the Bronx, Austin Jackson, a 21-year-old outfielder with New York’s AA affiliate in Trenton, calmly prepares to be the next big thing. And Jackson knows exactly who to talk to about that process.

“Reggie Jackson comes and visits us every spring,” said Jackson, as he dressed in front of his locker prior to Tuesday night’s game against the Connecticut Defenders. “The past two years, we got to sit down and talk. That’s huge from a friend standpoint. Sometimes he would be struggling, but he was always confident.”

Tellingly, the younger Jackson seems most engaged when he’s talking about hitting. That alone has to make the Yankees feel reasonably good about their decision to draft him with an eighth-round pick in the 2005 draft.  read more »

Unlike in the NBA or NFL, players selected in the Major League baseball draft are not expected to contribute to the big-league roster immediately, or often for years. But both the Mets and Yankees seemed to draft with the current problems with their respective teams in mind.

For the Mets, the issues addressed were in the starting lineup and depth of starting pitching. For the Yankees, the effort was made to collect high-ceiling young pitchers, hoping enough will stick to make a pitching staff.  read more »

Last Friday evening, Dodger manager Joe Torre was sitting in the visitors' dugout at Shea Stadium, fielding questions from about a dozen reporters about his struggling team. The Dodgers, who limped into a New York fresh off a three game sweep at the hands of the Chicago Cubs, had lost the series opener against the Mets by a score of eight to four, stretching their losing streak to four games.  read more »

Hours before the game, the army of Joba-clad supporters swarmed into Yankee Stadium to welcome the newly crowned king, Joba Chamberlain, to the starting rotation Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium against the Toronto Blue Jays.

But Chamberlain lasted just 2 1/3 innings in his first major league start. Uncharacteristically wild, he walked four hitters. By the final out of New York’s 9-3 loss to Toronto, most of the Joba jerseys had made their way to the exits.  read more »

In recent years, the New York Yankees have made a habit of starting slowly, only to confound critics by coming on strong and making the playoffs. The team started 11-19 in 2005 and 21-29 in 2007, only to rally to make the playoffs in both seasons, winning 95 and 94 games, respectively.

The early returns on the 2008 Yankees have been about as disappointing as those previous starts. But there is also reason to believe that the 2008 Yankees, who currently hold a 26-27 record, will be able to pull off a similar finish.  read more »

It is an acute irony that Darrell Rasner, who improved to 3-0 with seven shutout innings in New York’s 8-0 win over Baltimore Wednesday night, has the best ERA among the team’s starting staff.  read more »

This weekend, as Mets and Yankees reprised their biannual rivalry, the familiar summer smell of sizzling hot dogs and grilled hamburgers was trumped by the cloying stench of mutual desperation. After 40 games and more than $347 million in payroll, the Mets and Yankees entered the series a combined 40-42. Worse still, they saw their respective divisions led by the Florida Marlins and Tampa Bay Devil Rays, two teams whose payrolls rank last and next to last in Major League Baseball.

So what’s the problem?  read more »