Andy Pettitte really didn't pitch that badly. He essentially made two mistakes all night: a two-run homer by Albert Pujols and a solo shot by Mark Trumbo. Other than that, he was rather good, inducing 12 groundballs. But if your offense can't score more than once, the loss can hardly fall on the starting pitcher.

Dan Haren was just better, pitching backwards most of the night (offspeed pitches to get ahead, fastballs to get outs). The Yankees couldn't lay off his splitter, and when they did manage to drive the ball, it seemed an Angel was always there to catch it.

Nick Swisher can attest to that; he must've been the most frustrated man in the ballpark tonight. He hits three rockets, and on many other nights would've had two, maybe three extra-base hits. He had none tonight, as phenom Mike Trout robbed him of a potential home run in left field, and Peter Bourjos ran down two potential doubles in the right-center field gap. All Nick could do after the last one was smile.

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If you have to ask why this is the week's best game thread, you'll never know.

Andy Pettitte

#46 / Pitcher / New York Yankees

Height: 6-5

Weight: 225

Bats: L

Throws: L

Born: Jun 15, 1972

Vs.

Dan Haren

#24 / Pitcher / Los Angeles Angels

Height: 6-5

Weight: 215

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Sep 17, 1980

Lineups below -

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This was inspired by something I discovered while researching an article on the 1939 Yankees from a year ago (I procrastinated). Owner Jacob Ruppert, who died in January of '39, left a third of his estate to a completely unknown woman. It sparked an investigation of sorts into discovering who she was and why he did this (both for the 1939 press and for myself when I found out).

Colonel Ruppert was integral in building the Yankees into a perennial winner. He bought the team in 1914 (for about $450K) and within years had acquired Babe Ruth and other stars, and had turned the upstart ball club into the one rich in history we now think of.

Ruppert's estate was valued between $20 and $80 million at his death. For the sake of brevity, let's average that and say it was worth $50 million. That equates to about $800 million today. (Funny, because that wouldn't even buy half of the 2011 Yankees.)

Then, upon his death, came this story -

UNKNOWN GIRL IS NAMED IN RUPPERT WILL - New York, Jan. 20 [1939] - A young and comparatively unknown woman, Helen Winthrop Weyant, was named as one of the three chief beneficiaries of Col. Jacob Ruppert, owner of the New York Yankees.

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Anaheim ace Jered Weaver left last night's game in the first inning after apparently injuring his back. It could be a monumental blow for an already underachieving Angels team.

- Brett Gardner, left fielder extraordinaire, swung a bat yesterday for the first time in two weeks. He's been on the DL since April 18 with a strained elbow, but could return within 10 days. The last time he tried to come back, he felt pain in his elbow, causing him to be shutdown until yesterday.

- The trainer, jockey and owner of I'll Have Another, the horse vying for the Triple Crown on June 9, will all throw out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium the night before against the Mets.

- To help his grandsons pay for college, Don Larsen will auction the jersey he wore during his perfect game in the 1956 World Series. Considering Yogi Berra sold his jersey from that game for $565K, Larsen could easily get more than $1M.

- Check out Rob Neyer's fifth mailbag, in which he talks about the balk rule and baseball politics, among other topics.

Forgive me if I don't completely understand the economics of MLS. Let's get that out of the way. I read Wikipedia's page on MLS' designated player rule, and it seems there's no limit on the number of DPs a team can have, so that's not a problem (with Henry and Marquez already, though hopefully Marquez is gone soon).

With Didier Drogba recently announcing he would not return to Chelsea, could he join Thierry Henry and Kenny Cooper at the front of New York's offense? With all three, maybe Henry would slide back to an attacking midfield position?

How amazing would a front trio of Henry, Cooper and Drogba be? Not to mention fun to watch. He'd be expensive. What, at least $5M/year? But I'm sure it would increase attendance not just in New York/Jersey, but for every road game they played as well (and doesn't MLS pay a portion of every DP's salary?).

I'm not sure how close NY is to the salary cap, but I know a DP adds $335K to that number (though only $168K if he's added midway through the season).

Is it a crazy idea?

This was all about the pitching. Phil Hughes threw a "quality start," continuing his strong run while dropping his ERA below 5.00 for the first time since his initial start. He tossed six innings, allowing single runs in the third and fourth, that forced the Yanks into a 2-0 hole.

The Bombers quickly got on the board in the bottom of the fourth, thanks to a long Robinson Cano solo homer. It only took until the next frame before they scored twice and took the lead. Mark Teixeira singled through the shift, reaching second on an error. Russell Martin took one for the team and jogged to first. Dewayne Wise dropped a beautiful bunt down the third base line that turned into an infield single. Derek Jeter stepped to the plate with RISP! He looped a single into shallow right field and the contest was tied 2-2. A Curtis Granderson groundout gave the Yanks a 3-2 lead, one they would narrowly hang onto the rest of the night.

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Hughes is rolling: Over his last four starts, Phil has a 3.55 ERA and 22 K against 5 BB in 25.1 IP.

And a hit with RISP would be nice...

Phil Hughes

#65 / Pitcher / New York Yankees

Height: 6-5

Weight: 240

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Jun 24, 1986

Vs.

Luke Hochevar

#44 / Pitcher / Kansas City Royals

Height: 6-5

Weight: 220

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Sep 15, 1983

Lineups below -

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A-Rod has 22 grand slams in his career. The MLB record is 23, held by another Yankee, Lou Gehrig. As A-Rod is all but guaranteed to break Gehrig's record (he has five seasons left on his contract after this one), I thought it would be fitting to look at Biscuit Pants' history of grand slams. (That's apparently one of his nicknames.)

His first was on July 23rd of 1925, off RHP Firpo Marberry of the Washington Senators. Unfortunately, for many of these old games, we don't have much of the context of the home run. But for this one, we do. The Yankees were trailing 6-5 in the seventh with no outs when Gehrig belted the first grand slam of his career. Win Probability would surely have named it the "Play of the Game," as the Yanks went on to win 11-7, behind RHP Bob Shawkey. Gehrig went 3-4 overall and had seven RBI.

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The Yankees are in fourth place at 21-21, the first time they've been .500 this late in the season since 2008... If that doesn't ring a bell, it's the only season since 1993 they didn't make the playoffs. How worried are you?

- The Yanks and Red Sox have the same record and are in the same boat, says ESPN. Considering the Yanks now have a measly +1 run differential, they might be worse off.

- The Sox did, however, lose one of their better players, as Cody Ross will be out indefinitely with a fractured left foot.

- The Yanks have a few more players to add to their own injury list: LHP Manny Banuelos and IF Eduardo Nunez (both to the 7-day DL). It's Manny's second DL trip this season. Not good for a guy looking to make an impact with the big club this season.

- Babe Ruth's 1920 Yankees jersey became the "most expensive sport artifact ever sold at auction" after selling for $4.4M on Sunday.

- On a related note, David Wells sold the Babe Ruth cap he bought (and wore) in 1997 for more than $500K, and will make a six-figure donation to his old high school, Point Loma in San Diego. FYI, Wells bought the cap for just $35K. Nice investment.

- Rangers starter Neftali Feliz will hit the 15-day DL with inflammation in his pitching elbow.

- A road rage incident in Dodger Stadium's parking lot led to four men getting arrested after beating another man.

- Jose Canseco is back in professional baseball! Watch his four plate appearances for the Worcestor Tornadoes against the Newark Bears.

The first interleague series concludes today as the big man climbs the hill.

CC Sabathia

#52 / Pitcher / New York Yankees

Height: 6-7

Weight: 290

Bats: L

Throws: L

Born: Jul 21, 1980

Vs.

Johnny Cueto

#47 / Pitcher / Cincinnati Reds

Height: 5-10

Weight: 210

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Feb 15, 1986

Phil Hughes pitched well enough to win, especially considering he was facing 21-year-old RHP Drew Hutchinson (of the 5.53 ERA and 1.52 WHIP), allowing two runs over 5.1 innings of work. He allowed nine baserunners (seven hits, two walks), but struck out five as well, escaping a number of jams. He made only one real mistake, but it cost him the game.* Hutchinson also allowed nine baserunners (five hits, four walks) and struck out three, but the Blue Jays backed him up with two home runs and (gasp!) a hit with RISP. Despite going 1-10, it was still better than the Yankees' 0-8.

It was really about the bottom of the lineup. The 4-9 hitters (Tex, Ibanez, Swisher, Chavez, Jones and Martin) went 1-21. It looked like the Yanks might make it easy for Hughes after they scored a run three batters into the game (Jeter bunt out, Grandy walk, Cano double), but they were held scoreless the rest of the night.

Hughes was again inefficient with his pitches, tossing 107 in fewer than six innings, including 64 in the first three alone. He did, however, maintain good velocity, averaging 92.5 MPH with his fastball (and reaching 95.4).

The "Bombers" will mercifully return home tomorrow to start interleague play against the Reds, as Andy Pettitte will take on Bronson Arroyo.

* Play of the Game: Jose Bautista's third-inning, two-runer homer that gave Toronto a 2-1 lead (-18%).

Comment of the Game: Jedi Master A-Rod, with 5 recs for his take on Game of Thrones and House

Keep it rolling, Phil.

Over his last three games, Hughes has a 3.60 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and 17/3 K/BB.

Phil Hughes

#65 / Pitcher / New York Yankees

Height: 6-5

Weight: 240

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Jun 24, 1986

Vs.

Lineups below -

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Beyond The Boxscore profiled David Phelps via Pitch F/X.

- Check out YFU's interview with rising Charleston prospect, OF/3B/1B Tyler Austin.

- The same man who buried a David Ortiz jersey in Yankee Stadium also helped build Derek Jeter's apartment, and left some "surprises" there.

- The Yankees signed Cuban outfielder, Adonis Garcia. He's "26" and listed at 5'7", 180 lbs., so you might wonder why. He's been a consistently good hitter in Cuba's top league and should reach Double- or Triple-A quickly.

- Dan Grunfeld suffered an ACL injury (like Mariano Rivera), so he knows all about the pain and rehab that comes with it.

- After Mo suffered his torn ACL, SBN NY reviewed the five most embarrassing accidental injuries in New York sports history. Several Yankees made the list.

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Russell Martin, the bane of many Yankee fans, is hitting .182/.314/.318 over 29 games, good for an 81 wRC+. Mark Teixeira, who's largely gone under the radar in 2012, is hitting .223/.275/.369, good (bad?) for a 71 wRC+. Not only has Tex been an inferior offensive player this year, but he's doing it from an offense-first position (1B) and getting paid thrice as much ($22.5M vs. $7.5M).

I was fairly confident Tex was going to have a solid season about three weeks ago. I'm not so sure anymore. At least Martin, though he's not hitting, is staying patient and drawing his fair share of walks. Tex is not. His OBP is the worst on the team among regulars. Last season he belted 39 homers and slugged .494. I'll be happy with 25 this year.

I intended to talk more about Martin and why he gets the brunt of the criticism, but I think it's all relative. Unfortunately for athletes, they often get compared to who preceded them; in Martin's case, it was Jorge Posada, who was not only one of the top offensive catchers of this era, but in Yankees history. On top of that, the Yanks had a top catching/hitting prospect (Jesus Montero) that they parted with in the offseason, probably due, at least somewhat, to Joe Girardi's preference for defense-first catchers (like Martin and himself).

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There was speculation that Rafael Soriano had been named the closer after he appeared in last night's save situation rather than David Robertson. It turns out D-Rob was suffering from a sore oblique muscle. He'll go for tests today to determine the severity.

- Despite Mark Teixeira's big game last night, he hasn't quite lived up the high expectations he had when he signed a huge, eight-year deal before the 2009 season. (Come back at 8 a.m. for more on this.)

- Marc Carig of the Star-Ledger did some good work on the offense and its struggles.

- A couple of ex-All Stars, Andruw Jones and Raul Ibanez, are paying big dividends off the bench.

- Learn more about the next five players Derek Jeter will surpass on the all-time hits list.

- SBN NY looked at the top Yankees prospects of the week. Did you know 2B Angelo Gumbs of the Charleston RiverDogs swiped 11 bases? He has 19 on the season and only one caught stealing.

- Several fans have filed a lawsuit against MLB regarding (in essence) the territorial rights that give rise to the infamous blackout rules we all hate. Good luck, it's going to be an uphill battle.

Ivan Nova was brilliant. The only two runs he allowed, in seven innings of work, came on home runs: a legitimate shot by Jose Molina and a Yankee Stadium special by Luke Scott. He also struck out eight, walked two and allowed six hits.

The Rays lineup sat fastball most of the night and Nova responded by throwing slider after slider, usually with success.

Look at you, Raul Ibanez. The Yankees hit too many homers! Four of the five Yankee runs came off longballs: solo homers by Ibanez and Curtis Granderson, and another two-run shot by Ibanez (who now has five on the year).

Rafael Soriano did his usual thing, making us and his teammates sweat while he "worked" the 8th inning. He conceded a leadoff triple and was within a strike of escaping unscathed, but threw a 55-footer that Russell Martin couldn't block, allowing Tampa their third run.

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Pitching matchup and lineups below -

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Tonight kicks off an important three game set against the 19-10 Tampa Bay Rays. Erik Hahmann of DRaysBay was kind enough to answer a few questions for us.

Are you content with Jose Molina as the primary catcher for the rest of the season? If not, what are the alternatives?

Yes. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't welcome an upgrade at the plate. The Rays didn't sign him expecting a repeat of his 2011 performance. I went into the season expecting he'd continue to play above average defense and hoped his OBP would be above .300. So far he's done one of those two. Unless his offense REALLY goes into the toilet no one is replacing him as the primary backstop. It's possible the Rays add more catching help, since their two primary backups (Jose Lobaton and Robinson Chirinos) are injured, but likely wouldn't give up what it would take to acquire an impact bat.

How will the Rays try to compensate for the loss of Evan Longoria?

They're going to use some combination of Elliot Johnson, Jeff Keppinger, Will Rhymes and Sean Rodriguez. Obviously that won't replace the value Longoria brings, with the bat or the glove, but they should be able to be replacement level in his absence. He was out a month last season and they were able to play pretty well. The offense is better this season with the additions of Carlos Pena and Luke Scott, so that helps to soften the blow.

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Yankees brass will decide today whether to bring Andy Pettitte up to the big leagues or give him at least one more start in the minors. In four minor league starts, Pettitte has accumulated 13 strikeouts against three walks in 17 innings with 19 hits and seven earned runs allowed. Regular rest would mean a Friday night start against Felix Hernandez and the Mariners.

- Mariano Rivera visited three doctors yesterday in New York: Team physician Christopher Ahmad at New York Presbyterian Hospital, knee specialist Russell Warren at the Hospital for Special Surgery, and David Altchek, who operated on Mo's shoulder in 2008. He'll now decide who he wants to perform the surgery to correct his torn ACL and damaged meniscus.

- Boy, that Montero-for-Pineda trade looks better everyday doesn't it? Highly touted prospect Jose Campos (as Rob reported last night) was placed on the DL with "elbow discomfort." Does anyone else foresee the headline, "Campos Undergoes Tommy John Surgery," in the near future?

- The first soccer match at the new Yankee Stadium will occur in July, as Chelsea will take on Paris St. Germain. Details can be found here. FYI, Chelsea will play in the Champions League final on May 19, the "most watched annual sporting event" on the planet.

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You can't fault Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson, or A-Rod for tonight's loss (well, maybe A-Rod a little, but we'll get to that later), for they all had at least two hits while the rest the of the lineup went 0-21. You read that right, zero hits in 21 at-bats.

The Yanks' only run came on a monstrous shot off the upper deck facade in right field off Granderson's bat.

Baltimore's Brian Matusz won his first game since June of last year, hurling six innings of one-run ball. Phil Hughes pitched a bit better than his line (5.2 IP, 4 ER) would suggest. He struck out six, walked one, and allowed just four hits (unfortunately, two of those went over the outfield wall). He was removed after hitting Matt Wieters in the foot in the sixth inning with a pitch count of 100. Boone Logan "relieved" him and allowed consecutive singles before a fliner that should've been the third out. Infielder Eduardo Nunez misplayed the ball in left field, leading to two runs and a 6-1 Orioles lead. That was pretty much all she wrote.

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A matchup of pitching prospects that never lived up to the hype. Yay!

Phil Hughes

#65 / Pitcher / New York Yankees

Height: 6-5

Weight: 240

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Jun 24, 1986

Oof.

Vs.

Brian Matusz

#17 / Pitcher / Baltimore Orioles

Height: 6-4

Weight: 190

Bats: L

Throws: L

Born: Feb 11, 1987

Ouch.

Lineups below -

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There's finally been a change in the starting rotation, saving us from another dreadful Freddy Garcia start. That change comes in the form of David Phelps, an under-the-radar right-hander who's excelled throughout the minors. If you're a hardcore Yankee fan, you probably already know everything you need to about the newest member of the rotation. But if you're not, I'm going to give you a rundown.

He's 25 years old and only now getting his first shot at being a major league starter, partly because the Yankees, in general, have prospectophobia, and the scouts have never drooled over him the way they did with pitchers like Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain. He doesn't throw in the mid to high 90s, doesn't have gawdy strikeout numbers, and doesn't have a rich pedigree. Phelps lasted until the 14th round of the 2008 draft, having graduated from Notre Dame.

He had a very solid first (half) season in Staten Island (73 IP, 2.72 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 52 K, 18 BB). 2009 went even better, as he split the season between Charleston and Tampa. 2010 went similarly, as Phelps progressed to Trenton and Scranton. He was set back somewhat in 2011 due to an injury, causing him to throw only 114 IP; if not for that, we may have seen Phelps as early as last season.

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Despite allowing six runs in an extended Spring Training game, Andy Pettitte declared himself "ready to help" the big league ball club -

I feel I'm strong enough and ready to make my next start with [the Yankees]... I feel good and it was another solid day. I felt the quality of pitches were as good as I've had in any of my starts up to now, and I was able to hold my velocity throughout [the outing]. I feel like I'm ready to help the team.

He threw 96 pitches and will probably make one more minor league start before getting called up. The earliest he could re-join the team is May 10.

- Eduardo Nunez had an adventure in left field last night due to Nick Swisher's injured hamstring. Swish won't go on the DL but is expected to miss about a week. With Brett Gardner also injured, it's made for comedy (and tragedy) in the outfield the last few games, what with Nunez and Raul Ibanez. Nunez had played in five previous ML games in the outfield and none in the minors. And Ibanez is just a terrible outfielder.

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