So far this game has just been irritating. The Yankees have all the hits and runs and it is making me extremely sad. 3-0 Not Us going to the 4th.

RALLY THREAD!!!! First the A's got a base runner ... Then the A's got a hit ... Now can the A's get ... RUNZ?????? 3-0 Yankees going to the bottom of the 6th.

Oh you want specifics? OK: David Phelps impersonated Cy Young, Sonny Gray took 2 innings to remember how to pitch, and Jeff Francis pitched like, well, Jeff Francis, as the Yankees won 7-0 in a game that will take me 14 chocolate martinis -- that is, 3 more chocolate martinis -- to forget.

What did I do to deserve this game? Sure, I pushed an elderly lady into traffic this morning but she was clearly in my way. I might have texted while driving this afternoon, but I can't possibly be held responsible for something I was doing when I was clearly drunk. And in any event, none of this warrants subjecting me to a game like this.

Sonny Gray came out and got this Friday the 13th going in style by allowing singles to each of the first 3 batters in the game. He limited the damage to 2 runs, but then picked up where he left off allowing 3 more hits and another run to put the A's in an early 3-0 hole. Gray settled down big-time, though, retiring 12 in a row and finishing 6 IP with just the 3 runs on his ledger.

Meanwhile, David Phelps was making his first ever start against the A's having worked 5 IP in relief against them allowing 1 hit and 0 runs. He did that again, allowing 1 hit and 0 runs through the first 5 IP. He didn't give up a base runner until John Jaso walked with one out in the 4th. He didn't give up a hit until Derek Norris lobbed a broken bat single over 3B in the 5th. And for his 6⅔ IP he did not allow a run. No matter that Phelps had lost 4 games in a row, or had a season ERA of 4.88 coming in. He dazzled the A's with ... his "ok" stuff.

Trailing 3-0 going to the 8th Bob Melvin opted, for no discernible reason, to go to his long reliever who also happens to be an aging soft-tosser trying to get by on a combination of slow curves and prayer. Turns out Jeff Francis actually leads all active big league pitchers in something. That's right, Francis has given up 6 HRs on Friday the 13th in his career. He didn't give up a HR in the 8th, but he did manage to give up 5 hits and 4 ER in an inning typified by Francis failing to field a routine comebacker by Ichiro Suzuki, a ball that if Francis had just missed it entirely would have resulted in an easy force play at 2B.

Let's see, what else? In the bottom of the 8th, Coco Crisp desperately dived out of the way of a pitch headed for his foot and was called out for the bat crossing the plate as he hit the deck. In the top of the 9th Jim Johnson hit the first batter and walked 2 others, but thanks to a DP ball in between pitched a scoreless frame.

Oh, Josh Donaldson went 0-4 to put him at 0/25 since he sparred with Manny Machado. Fun!

I'm just glad there are no superstitions associated with Saturday the 14th. And to the elderly lady I ran over earlier today, I just want to say: Sorry, grandma.

The Yankees performed well all-around as they shutout the Athletics tonight.

The Yankees kicked off the first game of their last series on the West Coast tonight, and the team as a whole played really well. David Phelps struggled during his last two outings (13 ER), but managed to shutout the Athletics for 6.2 innings tonight. He took a no-hitter to the fifth inning, when Derek Norris singled to left field. The only other hit that he allowed came in the seventh inning when Jed Lowrie doubled to deep left. Phelps finished the night with three walks and four strikeouts.

On Oakland's side of things, Sonny Gray struggled early on by leaving quite a few fastballs up high. The Yankees capitalized on this by scoring three runs in the first two innings. Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter both singled to start the first inning. Jacoby Ellsbury followed with an RBI single to left, on which Gardner was able to score after sliding head first to just beat out Yoenis Cespedes' throw. Then Mark Teixeira hit a sac fly to deep center to score Jeter. In the second inning, Brian Roberts fouled a ball off his foot, and ended up hitting a single to get on base. He limped/ran to first, yet ultimately was able to stay in for the remainder of the game. Next up was Kelly Johnson, who worked a walk, followed by Gardner who was able to drive in Roberts for the third run.

Gray turned things around in the third inning, and the Yankees weren't able to get anything going again until after he was pulled from the game. When Jeff Francis came into the game for the eighth inning, Oakland's booth said that he had given up the sixth most home runs by a pitcher on Friday the 13th (weird stat, right?). Well, he didn't give up any home runs tonight, but he might just pitch poorly on Friday the 13th. Tex and Brian McCann had both singled to get on base, when Ichiro Suzuki came to the plate with two outs. Ichiro ended up with an infield hit after the ball deflected off of Francis's glove, which allowed Tex to score. Next up was Brian Roberts, who singled on a line drive to right field. McCann was just barely able to beat out the throw to Norris at the plate. The ball either deflected off of his glove, or fell out of his glove when he went to tag McCann, but either way he lost the ball and Ichiro was able to score the sixth run of the night. Kelly Johnson decided he wanted to contribute to all the Yankee singles of the night, and hit one to center to score Roberts.

Along with the good effort by Phelps and the offense, the bullpen also had a good game. Dellin Betances pitched 1.1 scoreless innings without two strikeouts, although the second one was not a great call. Coco Crisp was called out on a swinging strike that was less of him trying to swing the bat, and more of him trying not to get hit by the pitch. Oh well.

The Athletics brought in the struggling Jim Johnson for the ninth inning and Brendan Ryan came in to pinch-hit for Jeter. He ended up getting drilled in the back of the elbow and it looked incredibly painful. Luckily, the game was almost over and he was able to stay in, and hopefully we don't hear that he broke anything. Jose Ramirez came on in the ninth inning to finish the game, and notched one strikeout without allowing a hit. Game over. A's shutout.

The majority of you will be happy to hear that tomorrow night's game is the last 10:05 pm EST start of the season. Hiroki Kuroda will face off against Scott Kazmir as the Yankees look to extend their winning streak to five games.

Box score.

NoMaas | SJK:Gary Sanchez could be dropping in value with his recent benching.

SFGate | Susan Slusser: The Oakland Athletics plan to completely ignore "The Flip Play" when they honor Derek Jeter this weekend.

NJ.com | Brendan Kuty: As great as Chase Whitley has been, there are reasons to still remain skeptical.

It's About the Money | Domenic Lanza: Alfonso Soriano shouldn't be cut, but he should only be a platoon player at this point.

YES Network | Lou DiPietro: Read about the Yankees' signing of three non-drafted free agents.

The Star-Ledger | Jorge Castillo: Seattle will always be the true home of Ichiro Suzuki.

It's About the Money | Michael Eder: Jacoby Ellsbury is starting to pull the ball more, allowing him to hit the ball to all fields.

YES Network: Here's a few ways you can stand out at the game during Derek Jeter's farewell tour.

The Wall Street Journal | Anrew Beaton: As the Staten Island Yankees take on the Brooklyn Cyclones, they are led by two extreme opposite managers.

Former All-Star closer Heath Bell has been signed to a minor-league contract by the Yankees, whose bullpen is in dire straits. What's the worst that could happen?

The New York Yankees signed former three-time All-Star closer Heath Bell to a minor league contract, according to reports from ESPN and the Associated Press.

There is no word yet that they are trying to talk Mariano Rivera out of retirement to help one of the worst bullpens in the majors, but the numbers say they may need it. For the first time since 2007, New York relievers have a collective ERA above 4.00, posting a 4.20 ERA through 201⅔ innings pitched so far this season. That puts them at 24th in the majors, a full 1.84 runs above the majors-leading relievers in Washington, D.C..

One of pitching staff's biggest issues has been its inability to strand runners; the Yankees are at the bottom of the league in the number of baserunners left on base (71.3 percent, 23rd).

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When coupled with the rate at which they've been letting balls leave the park -- 1.07 HR/9, 27th in the majors -- it's a recipe for disaster.

Some of this is natural regression to the mean through the years, but the absence of the player with the lowest WHIP in baseball history doesn't help. Mariano Rivera's greatest advantage -- and thereby, the Yankees' bullpen's -- was the ability to stop players from ever getting on base in the first place. This is one reason why the signing of Heath Bell is so surprising.

Although he never posted the strikeout rates of an Aroldis Chapman or Craig Kimbrel, the former Padre easily ran up numbers in the double digits per nine during his prime, and outside of this season's incredible small sample size, has never been particularly great at inducing groundballs. He also hasn't had a standout WHIP since his .96 in 2007 season with San Diego, and while he's still able to hit over 90 miles per hour on the radar gun, he's lost almost 2 miles per hour off his fastball and slider.

But, with his pedigree, a relatively small market for relievers and Bell's contract situation -- the nine million dollars he's owed are being paid for by the Rays, Marlins and Diamondbacks -- this could end up the best decision the Yankees have made for their relievers since they found made that skinny Panamanian kid and moved him from the rotation to the bullpen.

Clayton Kershaw was back to his normal self against the D'backs, as he and the Dodgers outlasted Arizona 4-3.

Quotes

"I didn't have fastball command to start. Going into the game, just didn't establish early and put myself in some holes and had to battle out of those."

-Chase Anderson

"We got a couple hits and had some good AB's, we just couldn't get anything going with runners in scoring position. We were in it the whole game. We just needed that big hit and couldn't get it tonight."

- Chris Owings

Recaps

Anderson's spotless run ends against Dodgers - dbacks.com

You can bet that Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw had this date circled on his calendar for almost a month now. Kershaw, who was battered by the D-backs for seven runs on May 17, was his Cy Young self against them Friday night as he led Los Angeles to a 4-3 win at Dodger Stadium.

Clayton Kershaw leads Los Angeles Dodgers over Diamondbacks - azcentral

Clayton Kershaw allowed one run over seven innings, Matt Kemp homered for the first time in more than a month, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Diamondbacks 4-3 on Friday night.

Kershaw to tough this time around- Fox Sports Arizona

Kershaw (6-2) gave up eight hits and one run, walked one, and struck out seven to win his third consecutive start. He didn't allow a runner past second base after the third inning. Diamondbacks rookie Chase Anderson (5-1) came up short in his bid to become the second NL pitcher since 1914 to win his first six career starts. He gave up five hits and two runs in five innings.

D-backs, Anderson fall to Dodgers: By The Numbers - Arizona Sports 620

Here's a look at the loss to the Dodgers by the numbers.

Daily D'backs

Cahill making mechanics adjustment in minors; Inciarte placed on DL; Campana called up - dbacks.com: news

Cahill on Thursday accepted an assignment to Class A Visalia in attempt to figure out the mechanical issues that led him to struggling so mightily this season at the big league level. Finally getting a chance to play on a near-everyday basis in the big leagues, Inciarte now finds himself on the disabled list for at least the next week. Tony Campana had fallen asleep during Triple-A Reno's late-night bus ride from Nashville to Memphis when the buzzing of his cellphone woke him.

Diamondbacks still allowing too many home runs - azcentral

For souvenir hunters, it's probably worth it to sit in the outfield bleachers when the Diamondbacks are playing, and that's not a testament to the power in the Diamondbacks bats.

Gregorius in the swing of things with new stance - Fox Sports Arizona

Gregorius changed his stance and hitting approach. He is wider and lower as he stands in the batter's box, and his swing is more compact. As a result, his bat stays through the hitting zone longer.

Collmenter looks to start strong - mlb.com game preview

Collmenter -- a reliever-turned-starter -- has pitched well of late, going 3-1 with a 3.34 ERA in his past five starts. The key for him in his rebound the last time out was locating down in the zone and mixing in his off-speed pitches.

Around Baseball

Yankees sign Heath Bell - mlbtraderumors

They beat us to it!

'Flip play' in Oakland iconic moment in Jeter's career - mlb.com

From his seat in the first-base dugout, Derek Jeter extended an index finger toward the spot, pinpointing the location of arguably the most iconic play of his career. For anyone who saw the "flip play" develop in real time, its details are forever seared into memory.

The Yankee rookie doesn't walk anyone. And that's just the start of the fun.

Give me strike throwers. Hitting a baseball at 90+ mph is hard enough, so if you don't have a Randy Johnson slider or a Masahiro Tanaka split, don't worry about. Throw strikes and trust the baseball gods to take care of the rest.

It worked for David Wells, for Chien-Ming Wang, and for (future Hall of Famer) Mike Mussina.

And now it's working for Chase Whitley.

Among starters with at least 30 inning pitched, Whitley trails only Doug Fister (another of my all-strikes, less-stuff dream team) for the MLB lead for lowest BB/9 with 0.80. Deputy Strike Machine Masahiro Tanaka's BB/9 is 1.35, just for point of comparison. Whitley's refusal to issue walks and his failure to allow home runs makes his early returns look sustainable if he can keep going at this pace.

Of course, I don't think he can keep going at this pace. Doubt and regression to the mean are the central pillars of my life. So the question is: if #WhitleyTime's performance isn't sustainable, what is?

Look: Chase Whitley is only pitching in the zone 49.5% of the time; that's the territory of A.J. Burnett (now that he's almost exclusively bad A.J.) and Hector Noesi (he didn't walk anyone in the minor leagues! I loved him).

The good news is that Whitley has been making that first pitch a strike just over 65% of the time–that's 20th in the league; Chris Sale, Stephen Strasburg territory. Pitching 101 is get the first strike then expand the zone. And other good news is that Whitley's getting enough swings and misses to rank 13th in MLB, between Zack Greinke and Max Scherzer.

While it's still too early for there to be bad news, there is (I think) sobering news: Whitley is hittable. I know, you're shocked. But I mean, very hittable. In the zone, opponents make contact on just shy of 90% of his pitches. That's Mark Buehrle, James Shields levels of contact. Those guys are great pitchers, and I wish either of them were on the Yankees right now (actually, I felt like the voice in the wilderness arguing that Buehrle was the piece the Yankees were missing when he was a free agent). But those are two guys who depend on their defense, and the Yankee defense is something less than stellar.

So enjoy WhitleyTime, revel in it and look forward to it. It might not always be as good as it's been these first few weeks, but I think it's going to be really good.

The Yankees swept the Mariners and have taken Game 1 of this 3 game series against the Athletics. David Phelps pitched brilliantly. Hiroki Kuroda will hope to follow that up with a series win tonight. PSA DP for life!

David Phelps pitched his best game of the year last night against the second best team in the majors. The Athletics could not figure him out all night, only managing two hits against Phelps. With recent news of Michael Pineda not being back till at least August, as well as CC Sabathia's uncertain time frame, this was exactly the start we needed from Phelps to help put out mind at ease. Somewhat.

...we're still doomed. Pack it up and cash it in.

6/13/14 Daily Prediction Answers

Aaron Uno pretended to be Caesar while in the Coliseum tonight, giving the thumbs down to the A's while Phelps was pitching. Aaron Dos and Aaron Tres moved a few seats down and pretended not to know him. Meanwhile, we have a winner to announce. That winner is long time listener, who scored 4,000 points to thwart his opponents. Not quite his usual "callin' it" but it'll do I'm sure.

6/14/14 Daily Predictions & Fun Question

Least favorite Disney movie?

Showers: Bar Soap or Body Wash/Fluffy Thingy (Loofah if you want to be technical)

Favorite food you eat that comes on a stick?

What's your least favorite thing about summer?

Hiroki Kuroda gets the start for the Yankees tonight, as they try to win the series against the A's. Let us hope, once again, for the good HIROK to emerge. Also, if the offense can keep doing that whole hitting thing, that'd be great as well. I, for one, like the Derek Jeter that hits like Derek Jeter.

Let's Go Yankees

The struggle bus rides on.

Brian McCann was brought in to provide solid offense at a historically defense-first position.  While McCann got off to a rough start, posting a 66 wRC+ in April, many of us assumed that he would snap out of it as the season wore on.  Now we find ourselves in the middle of June, and McCann is still mired in a slump (he's hitting .226/.281/.361 for a 75 wRC+) that has left a gaping whole in the Yankee offense and, if it continues, will severely hurt their playoff chances.

While McCann started off 2014 poorly, he did show some signs of life in May, hitting.239/.307/.413 with four doubles and four home runs (compared to two doubles and three homers in April).  He also drove in 15 runs, which was over half of his season total.  During the last two weeks of May, McCann was especially solid, posting a wRC+ of 122 and looking like maybe, just maybe, he was getting ready to go on a tear.  It was not to be, however–McCann has been worse than ever in June, hitting .194/.242/.226 for a 27 wRC+ over the past ten games.  Needless to say, it's been a tough year so far for McCann.

The most glaring area where McCann has struggled this year is with his power. McCann's never hit for a great average, but he has hit with quite a bit of pop throughout his career.  This season he's been punchless, though, posting a .135 ISO in 2014, way down from his career average of .193 (and last year's .205).  Some of this might be due to him continuing to try to hit away from the shift, as he's been pulling the ball less in 2014 (he has pulled 40% of the balls he made contact with this season, compared to 45% over his career).  Even when he has managed to pull the ball, it hasn't been with much power. His slugging percentage this season of .479 on pulled balls is way down from his career mark of .701, and his HR/FB rate of 26.1% on pulled balls is also down significantly, from 45.9% last season and 33.4% over his career.

While we shouldn't panic (yet), it's still a bit troubling that McCann's been struggling for such an extended period of time. With only a month to go until the All-Star break, McCann still has plenty of time to make this season a success, but the Yankees will need him in the second half for a playoff push.  With a stretch of twelve home games in sixteen games starting next Tuesday–he's has hit better at Yankee Stadium, posting an 84 wRC+ versus a 69 on the road–he'll have a good chance to build some momentum before the break.

The Yankees will try to keep the good times rolling after their great win against the Oakland Athletics last night.

Tonight's lineup: Gardner 7 Jeter 6 Ellsbury 8 Teixeira 3 McCann 2 Soriano dh Suzuki 9 Solarte 4 Johnson 5 Kuroda RHP

— wallace matthews (@ESPNNYYankees) June 14, 2014

Brett Gardner, Derek Jeter, and Jacoby Ellsbury remain at the top of the order. Mark Teixeira and Brian McCann are hitting four and five, while Alfonso Soriano bats behind them as the designated hitter. Ichiro Suzuki is in right field, while Yangervis Solarte is at second and Kelly Johnson is at third. Noticeably absent from the lineup are Carlos Beltran, who is not yet ready to play the outfield, and Brian Roberts, who took a ball off the knee last night and could be left on the bench tomorrow as well.

Michael Pineda won't be returning to the majors until at least August, but there has been some ineresting talk making its way around the internet that they could be coming to an end with this whole ordeal:

Hearing Pineda gets one more shot at rehab and then the Yankees will shut him down and walk away.

— Will Carroll (@injuryexpert) June 14, 2014

There are some who are suggesting that they might actually part ways with Pineda if he can't stay healthy this year. Personally, even though he'll be arbitration eligible in 2015, I find the idea of cutting him loose to be a terrible idea and one I'd like to think the Yankees are smart enough to avoid. Their starting rotation is currently being held together by duct tape and it'll only be worse next year when Hiroki Kuroda is gone and CC Sabathia is another year older.

If this report is actually based on some sort of fact, I would hope it means that the Yankees will try to rehab Pineda one more time, and if he suffers another setback, they're going to shut him down for the season. That's not the worst idea in the world and honestly, at that point, it's really the only option they would have. Michael Pineda is still just 25 and it would be foolish to let him go when they have no one else really pushing for a spot.

In minor league news, the Yankees have released Graham Stoneburner after six seasons in the organization. Drafted in the 14th round of the 2009 MLB Draft, Stoneburner was an intriguing fringe prospect at one point before injury and ineffectiveness doomed any chance he had. The team seemingly saw enough after he put up a 7.04 ERA in Double-A Trenton this year at the age of 26.

Dahhhhhhhhhhh . . . Athletics! Win!

The Athletics evened the weekend series against the New York Yankees, defeating them 5-1 with yet another superlative pitching performance and excellent plate approaches by many of the Athletics' hitters, sprinkled with some key clutch hits.

It will be a challenge to avoid using the phrase "lights out" during this recap. SFGate already has "A's offense powers through outage to beat Yankees," the mlb.com wrap went with "Lights-out: Kazmir stays hot, cools off Yanks." The Associated Press went with the matter-of-fact "A's beat Yankees 5-1 after light outage delay."

Here is our wrap up of A's lights-out win over Yankees on Saturday night http://t.co/cPDKNxf63Y

— Darren Sabedra (@DarrenSabedra) June 15, 2014

Early Dealing

Both Scott Kazmir and Hiroki Kuroda started this evening with a one-two-three first inning; Kazmir in nine pitches, Kuroda in 10.

Our pitcher took one fewer pitch than your pitcher to get through a 1-2-3 first. #SmallVictories

— Athletics Nation (@athleticsnation) June 15, 2014

Kazmir continued mowing down batters until he walked the number nine Yankee, third baseman Kelly Johnson. Left fielder Brett Gardner advanced Johnson to third base when The Captain, Derek Jeter, came to bat. On Kazmir's first pitch, Jeter grounded a ball several steps to shortstop Andy Parrino's left for what should have been an easy toss to second base or at worst a not too difficult throw to Brandon Moss waiting at first. Instead, Parrino airmailed Moss, and Johnson scored an unearned run.

Andy Parrino airmailed first base because he's used to throwing it to Nate Freiman. #Athletics

— Casey Pratt (@CaseyPrattCSN) June 15, 2014

Mr. Clutch, Eric Sogard

In the bottom of the second, the Athletics began to work counts. Yoenis Cespedes walked on seven pitches, Stephen Vogt got the count in his favor to 2-and-1 before singling to right, Andy Parrino worked a six-pitch walk, setting up Eric Sogard with the bases loaded. Sogard simply lined a single up the middle to score two to take what was to that point a 2-0 lead before the Yankees' unearned run in the third.

When the lights, go down, in the Coliseum

In the middle of the fourth, the umpires realized the left field light standard above Mount Davis was not on.

Umpires, A's officials are discussing this: pic.twitter.com/qpkAxI3qkZ

— Athletics Nation (@athleticsnation) June 15, 2014

The umpires delayed the game, with a good chance that sunlight would fall below acceptable levels, though the right field lights were on.  Curiously, it's not that they failed in the middle of the game, they were never on in the first place.

Jaso says he noticed lights problem during the National Anthem. Players not sure if they began working on em before or after delay started.

— Jane Lee (@JaneMLB) June 15, 2014

Girardi on lights: "They were never on. Which makes me question why someone didn't notice who is here every day."

— Alex Espinoza IV (@AlexEspinozaIV) June 15, 2014

After 38 minutes, the lights turned back on and the game resumed with Hiroki Kuroda tossing a one-two-three bottom of the fourth inning, the A's leading 2-1.

Tonight’s game was delayed 38 minutes due to a circuit breaker outage. The breaker had to be reset manually in the left field light tower.

— Oakland Athletics (@Athletics) June 15, 2014

"It’s probably a bad bulb, son. If one goes out, the whole thing doesn’t work," -- Clark Wilhelm Griswold Sr.

— John Shea (@JohnSheaHey) June 15, 2014

Making it work

If you look at Scott Kazmir's final line, with just two strikeouts and three walks over his six innings this is probably one of his worst performances not cut short by a too-sensitive home plate umpire. Some good infield defense tonight made it work for the Athletics and Scott Kazmir tonight after the lighting delay. In the fourth, with Brian McCann aboard on a lead-off single, Yangervis Solarte grounded into a 5-4-3 double play.

In the fifth, Kelly Johnson doubled to lead off and reached third on Brett Gardner's ground out. With one out and the infield in, Derek Jeter bounced a Baltimore chop on a run-on-contact play to Eric Sogard, and Mr. Clutch, Eric Sogard, threw home without hesitation to nail Johnson at the plate. The play saved the A's 2-1 lead headed to the bottom of the fifth.

Putting it away

Mr. Clutch, Eric Sogard, walked to lead off the fifth. Coco Crisp bunted a beauty that might have rolled foul of the third base line had Kelly Johnson not picked it up with no chance to throw Crisp out. Sogard and Crisp moved up 90 feet on John Ryan Murphy's first passed baseball, and another on John Jaso's grounder to Brian McCann, playing first base for the late scratch Mark Teixiera. With Donaldson batting, Crisp scored on John Ryan Murphy's second passed ball. The A's led 4-1 after five.

In the A's half of the sixth, Craig Gentry ,in place of Stephen Vogt, faced the left-handed David Huff. He laid down a beautiful bunt past the first base side of the pitcher's mound, reaching without a doubt. Andy Parrino then doubled down the left field line, scoring Gentry, making it 5-1 Athletics.

The A's bullpen took over after Scott Kazmir's fifth consecutive quality start. Kazmir's ERA of 2.05 now places him second behind Masahiro Tanaka at 2.02. Dan Otero did his Dan Otero thing, facing six and putting out six. He handed a four-run lead over to Sean Doolittle, who finished the game with two pop-ups and a lazy fly to Coco Crisp to extend Doolittle's league-leading active scoreless innings streak to 20⅓ innings. After Kelly Johnson's lead-off double in the fifth, A's pitching faced fifteen batters and got fifteen outs. If only there was some turn of phrase to describe that sort of pitching.

Missing in action

Josh Donaldson extended his hitless streak to 0-for-his-last-31, and the frustration visibly showed. Donaldson, as usual, seemed displeased with a close strike three in the fifth inning. In the seventh, Donaldson popped out behind the plate on an 0-1 pitch, and offered some extra words about that fifth inning strikeout to home plate umpire Hal Gibson III, and despite Melvin's best efforts to escort Donaldson back to the dugout to retrieve his glove, Donaldson continued and was deservedly thrown out for arguing balls and strikes. Great hitters have weird weeks, so it's tough to watch him struggle, because you know he wants to be playing well.

John Jaso also went 0-for-4, taking him to 0-for-his-last-21 now. His grounder to first in the fifth inning did score a run, however. Jed Lowrie struck out three times and lined out to left.

Brandon Moss, on the other hand, started to break out of a 1-for-18 slump since hitting a grand slam against Baltimore last Sunday. He had two hits and a walk tonight.

What's next?

The A's play underneath the Sun tomorrow at 1:05 pm in the series rubber match, leading the American League by 2.0, the Los Angeles Angels by 3.5, and the Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers by 7.0. Jesse Chavez takes the bump for Oakland against New York's Vidal Nuno.

Nothing went right.

In the fourth inning, the game was delayed due to failure with the lights in the stadium. While the Yankees weren't playing particularly well prior to the delay, when the game resumed, they too shut off. The offense managed just one run, while Hiroki Kuroda had to be taken out after just 4.2 innings. In the end, the Athletics won 5-1, snapping the Yankees' four-game win streak.

The Athletics got on the board first in the bottom of the second. With one out, Kuroda walked Yoenis Cespedes. After striking out Jed Lowrie, Kuroda allowed a single to Stephen Vogt. Kuroda then lost the strike zone and walked Andy Parrino. Eric Sogard then singled, scoring two. Coco Crisp would pop up to end the inning, but the A's now led 2-0.

The Yankees then got on the board in the top of the third. After the first two hitters went down in order, Kelly Johnson kept the inning alive with a walk. Brett Gardner then singled, moving Johnson to third. Derek Jeter came up next and appeared to ground out to end the inning, but Parrino airmailed the throw to first. That scored Johnson and made 2-1. Jacoby Ellsbury then walked to load the bases. Alfonso Soriano couldn't get a hit, but he put it in play, so that was nice.

After the top of the fourth inning, the game was delayed due to light failure. One set of lights was malfunctioning and it was decided that it was too dark to follow the ball. After about 30 minutes, the lights came back on and the game resumed.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Athletics added to their lead. Sogard led off the inning by drawing a walk off Kuroda. Crisp then came up and bunted one down the third base line. It looked like the ball might roll foul, but before it could, Johnson picked it up and threw to first. Crisp easily beat it out, putting two on with no outs. With John Jaso at the plate, a passed ball allowed Sogard and Crisp to move to second and third. Jaso grounded out to first after Brian McCann (playing first after Mark Teixeira was scratched) made a nice diving stop. A run did score on the play, however. With Josh Donaldson batting, another passed ball allowed Crisp to score, making it 4-1. With two outs, Kuroda allowed a single to Brandon Moss. That would be it for Hirok. He went just 4.2 innings, allowing four runs on five hits and three walks. Shawn Kelley came in and got the last out of the inning.

David Huff came in to pitch the sixth and that went like how you think it would. After striking out the first batter, Huff allowed back-to-back hits to Craig Gentry and Parrino. The latter's double scored a run to make it 5-1.

After that inning, Huff calmed down, but so did the offense. The Yankees failed to get anything substantial going after the delay. No Yankee reached base in the last four innings. The A's won the game 5-1 and the Yankees' win streak was snapped.

The Yankees and Athletics will wrap up their series tomorrow at 4:05 eastern. Vidal Nuno will get the start for the Yankees, while Jesse Chavez will go for Oakland.

Box score.

New York Daily News | Mark Feinsand: Just in time for Father's Day, Derek Jeter talks about how his father has influenced him throughout his career.

It's About the Money | Brad Vietrogoski: A look at how Chase Whitley pitches to left-handed hitters in order to keep them off balance.

LoHud | Chad Jennings: Even though he's healthy now, Carlos Beltran is still trying to feel good at the plate.

ESPN New York | Wallace Matthews: Derek Jeter doesn't think much about the Athletics ignoring The Flip Play in their video tribute to him.

It's About the Money | Domenic Lanza: Remembering the season Paul O`Neill put up in 1994, which proved once and for all that the Yankees won that trade with the Reds.

Sports On Earth | Howard Megdal: Switch-pitcher Pat Venditte has adopted a sidearm delivery from both the right side and the left side in an attempt to improve and finally make the majors.

LoHud | Chad Jennings: David Phelps no longer sees himself, Chase Whitley, and Vidal Nuno as replacement starters.

A-Blog For A-Rod | Brad Vietrogoski: Can Heath Bell be of any value to the Yankees this year?

Recapping the Yankees' minor league affiliates' results from June 14th.

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders:L 0-7 vs. Columbus Clippers

LF Jose Pirela 1-4 - batting .375/.422/.450 over his last 10 games
2B Rob Refsnyder 0-4, K - batting .125 since promotion
CF Zoilo Almonte 1-4, 2 K
DH Kyle Roller 1-3, BB - batting .301 w/ SWB
3B Scott Sizemore 4-4, double
1B Corban Joseph 0-4
RF Russ Canzler 0-3, BB, K, E9 - fielding error, sixth of the season
C Austin Romine 0-4, K
SS Carmen Angelini 0-3, K

Brian Gordon 5 IP, 5 H, 6 R/5 ER, 3 BB, 4 K - 55 of 86 pitches for strikes
Matt Daley 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, K
Robert Coello 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, K - 1.85 ERA this season
Pat Venditte 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, K

Double-A Trenton Thunder:L 3-2, L 3-4 vs. New Britain Rock Cats

Suspended game on 6/13 completed:

CF Mason Williams 1-5, K
DH Francisco Cervelli 0-1, 2 BB, K, HBP
LF Ben Gamel 0-3, RBI, BB, K
3B Rob Segedin 1-4, double, 2 K
C Peter O'Brien 0-4, 3 K
1B Tyler Austin 1-4, K
RF Taylor Dugas 1-4, triple, K, E9 - fielding error, second of the season
2B Casey Stevenson 1-2, RBI, 2 BB
SS Ali Castillo 2-3

Manny Banuelos 3 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K - 30 of 49 pitches for strikes
Zach Nuding 4.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, WP
Fred Lewis 0.1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB

Regularly scheduled game:

CF Mason Williams 1-5
C Francisco Cervelli 0-4, K
DH Ben Gamel 2-4 - batting .285 this season
3B Rob Segedin 1-3, RBI, BB
1B Peter O'Brien 2-4, HR, RBI - 13th HR w/ Trenton/23rd this season
RF Tyler Austin 1-4, triple
2B Dan Fiorito 1-4, K
LF Taylor Dugas 1-3, RBI, E7 - fielding error, third of the season
SS Ali Castillo 0-4, 2 K, E6 - fielding error, sixth of the season

Eric Wooten 6.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R/2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K - 54 of 76 pitches for strikes
Tyler Webb 0.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, K
Manny Barreda 1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, K

High-A Tampa Yankees: All-Star Break

Low-A Charleston RiverDogs:W 3-1 vs. Lexington Legends

DH Michael O'Neill 1-3, double, BB, K, SB, HBP
SS Tyler Wade 1-5, RBI, K
RF Aaron Judge 2-4, K - batting .333 this season
1B Reymond Nunez 1-4, double, RBI
LF Dustin Fowler 2-3, RBI, BB
C Jackson Valera 0-4
3B Miguel Andujar 0-4, K, E5 - fielding error, 17th of the season
2B Gosuke Katoh 0-3, BB, 2 K
CF Brandon Thomas 0-3, BB, 2 K

Luis Severino 6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K - 10 GO/0 AO
Evan Rutckyj 2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
Philip Walby 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K

Short Season-A Staten Island Yankees:L 2-8 vs. Brooklyn Cyclones

SS Thairo Estrada 0-4, BB
RF Austin Aune 0-2, RBI, BB, K, 2 HBP, OF assist
3B Renzo Martini 1-4, RBI, BB, K
DH Brady Steiger 0-5, 2 K
1B Chris Breen 1-3, BB
LF Nathan Mikolas 0-3, BB, 3 K
CF Daniel Lopez 0-2, 2 BB, E8 - fielding error
C Radley Haddad 1-4, double, 3 K
2B Jose Javier 2-4

David Palladino 3.1 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 5 BB, K, E1 - 5 GO/2 AO
Conor Mullee 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, hit batsman
Andury Acevedo 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, K
Francis Joseph 1.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 2 K
Elvin Perez 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB

Injuries and under-performance have so far hindered Carlos Beltran's first year in pinstripes; the Yankees will need him to right the ship if they want to move up in the standings.

Carlos Beltran's first of three seasons with the Yankees has been a struggle. Well, it didn't start out that way, as the switch-hitter hit .298/.339/.614 in his first 15 games of the season. In his 16th game, though, Beltran, trying to catch a foul ball, flipped over the short wall in foul territory at Tropicana Field. He continued to hit in the few games that followed, but he hit the skids pretty hard (.405 OPS) in 14 games after that. A bone spur in his right elbow was revealed in mid-May, keeping him out of action for three weeks. Since then, Beltran has returned, but unfortunately his bat has picked up right where it left off prior to the injury.

To be exact, in just eight games since returning from the bone spur injury, Beltran is hitting a very weak .129/.156/.194, all three figures of which are below his weight of 210 lbs. Also, because of the bone spur in his right throwing arm, Beltran has been exclusively used as a designated hitter. He's practically unusable in the outfield, but at least it'd be nice to just have him try to fake it out there so the DH spot can be open for others like Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira (when healthy), Brian McCann, etc. to give them half-days when needed. Instead, Beltran is creating a black hole at the DH spot at the moment.

Even with the bone spur scare, Beltran admits that his struggles are more timing-related than they are due to said bone spur: "I've still got to go through BP and go to the cage and continue to work," Beltran told Chad Jennings of LoHud. "Physically I feel fine. It's just more timing, more kind of being in between and sometimes feeling for the baseball; not taking my full swings. Things like that."

Obviously Beltran is going to say his struggles are more timing-related than they are due to his bone spur; he wouldn't be playing if the bone spur were still bothering him, but his excuse is still valid. Three missed weeks with only a small handful of extended spring training games mixed in is no way to keep your timing at the plate. Still, with McCann still not hitting, Alfonso Soriano looking just about finished for good, and Yangervis Solarte slumping the past month, to go along with other offensive shortcomings, it'd sure be nice if Beltran could start hitting again like he did at the beginning of the season.

Despite his long slump, I'm sure Beltran will snap out of it and start hitting again. I'd be pretty shocked if he continued his Vernon Wells-esque slide for the rest of the season, considering this is a guy who has hit his entire career and was on fire to start the year. But for someone who the Yankees forked over three years, $45 million and a draft pick for, the team better hope this isn't a sign of things to come in just year one. Beltran was signed to be the middle-of-the-order switch-hitter with pop, and Yankees will need him to go back to being that presence in the heart of the order for an offense-starved club.

The lights went out yesterday, as did the Yankees winning streak. Vidal Nuno will hope to build a new streak, as well as secure the series victory over the Athletics. Last west coast PSA DP thread. Also, Happy Father's Day!

Yep, we're still doomed alright. Pack it up and cash it in.

6/14/14 Daily Prediction Answers

Aaron Uno, still pretending to be Caesar, yelled out something about sending in the lions. Aaron Dos and Aaron Tres do not know if he means lions for the Athletics or lions for the Yankees. Thankfully, no one was listening. Meanwhile, despite the awful numbers of yesterday, we do indeed have a winner. Q-TDSK is that winner with 3,000 points. A beacon of light in that dark game yesterday.

6/15/14 Daily Predictions & Fun Question

Do you have any childhood movies that you can no longer watch?

Soda: Regular, Diet, Zero, or I" never ever drink soda?"

Writing a paper: Leave plenty of time or wait till the last minute?

Silly names you'd consider calling Pinstripe Alley?

Hiroki Kuroda did not pitch well against the Athletics. The Yankees lost. Vidal Nuno takes the mound this afternoon against the A's. Here's hoping he pitches well and wins the game & the series. If not, that's a long flight back to NYC.

Let's Go Yankees

Update: In my sleep deprived state, I forgot to add this in. Happy Father's Day to all the Pinstripe Alley Dads that are reading, commenting, or lurking on this site. We hope you have a memorable day!

With Francisco Cervelli set to be activated from the DL, John Ryan Murphy will probably be sent down to Triple-A.

Francisco Cervelli is finally ready to be activated from the 60-day disabled list, where he has spent almost the entire season recovering from a Grade 2 hamstring strain. Manager Joe Girardi has said that Cervelli will be activated next week, after the Yankees return from their West Coast trip. Does that mean that John Ryan Murphy will be sent down to Triple-A?

Probably. Cervelli is out of options, so if the Yankees designated him for assignment, they would risk losing him to another team. Plus, there would be no point in risking losing a catcher who could potentially be traded. Murphy has hit well, though, so it's unfortunate for him. It's hard to compare their stat lines, because Cervelli only played in a grand total of five games this season before his injury, during which he hit a meaningless .188/.235/.250. Last season, Cervelli only had 61 plate appearances and hit .269/.377/.500. Murphy has had a comparable 60 plate appearances so far this season, and is batting .310/.333/.397.

The Yankees could carry three catchers, but that seems unlikely as it would require them to remove someone from the 25-man roster. Brian Roberts comes to mind, yet the team appears to be committed to rolling him out as the second baseman, unless he happens to go on the DL. Even if they did decide to go with three catchers, it probably wouldn't be very beneficial to Murphy. Being the lowest catcher on the totem pole would mean getting very little playing time, in which case it might be better for him to return to Triple-A. Girardi said something similar, stating that at least at Triple-A Murphy could play every day so that he could continue to develop. If they did decide to carry three catchers, then maybe Cervelli would be more of the backup first baseman, like they tried early in the season, so that Murphy might get to play more frequently.

It's tough because Cervelli hasn't out-played Murphy to earn the backup catcher spot back, and Murphy hasn't done anything to deserve being sent down. Although, given Cervelli's track record with injuries, we might see Murphy back up again soon. That's one of the perks of having five catchers on the 40-man roster.

Additionally, though there is an open spot on the 40-man roster, the Yankees might have to DFA someone in order to make room for Cervelli if they want to maintain that flexibility. Possible candidates include David Huff, Matt Daley and maybe even Preston Claiborne. Huff was only recently added and pitched three innings in last night's game, where he allowed one run, one walk and struck out one. Matt Daley is currently down in Triple-A and through 13 IP at the big league level has a 4.85 ERA and 1.31 WHIP. Claiborne is also at Triple-A, but has thrown 17.2 innings with the Yankees this season, putting up a 3.57 ERA, 7.13 K/9 and 1.53 WHIP. The case could be made for any of them.

Would you rather see Murphy sent down or do you think he's more deserving of the spot than Cervelli? Should the Yankees DFA anyone to add Cervelli to the 40-man?

Vidal Nuno bad at the baseballs.

Vidal Nuno's road starts of late have ranged from okay to decent and gave a sense of hope that he would pitch well today in Oakland. Those hopes were quickly dashed. Nuno gave up three runs in the first inning and three more in the second. After that, the Yankees were never really in the game and the Athletics came away with a 10-5 win in the series finale.

The Athletics picked up a couple runs in the first inning. Coco Crisp and Craig Gentry led off the game for the A's with back-to-back singles. After Nuno struck out Yoenis Cespedes, Derek Norris took a ball over the left field wall for a three-run home run.

An inning later, the A's added even more. With one out in the inning, Kyle Blanks and Nick Punto hit two straight singles. This time it was Crisp who brought the two runners home with three-run home run. That made it 6-0 Oakland.

After putting two on in the bottom of the fourth, Nuno's day was done. He went just three innings, allowing eight runs on eight hits and a walk. He was bad.

Jose Ramirez came in for Nuno and he had some problems with control. He walked Crisp to load the bases. Gentry then came up. A pitch got away from Ramirez and hit Gentry on the head. It looked a bit scary for a second, but Gentry got up and was able to remain in the game. In addition to putting Gentry on base, the hit by pitch also scored a run. After that, Ramirez allowed a single to Cespedes that scored two more runs.  Ramirez then got two outs when Jed Lowrie lined into a double play. Josh Donaldson added more when he managed to just sneak a slow roller through the infield. That scored another run and made it 10-0.

In the top of the sixth, the Yankees finally got on the board. Derek Jeter reached when he hit a one-out double. Jeter moved to third when Jacoby Ellsbury grounded out and scored when Mark Teixeira doubled. That cut the A's lead to a paltry nine runs.

An inning later, the Yankees started chipping away when Carlos Beltran led off the inning with a home run. Ichiro Suzuki followed that with a single. After Yangervis Solarte struck out, Kelly Johnson and Brett Gardner drew two straight walks to load the bases. Jeter then hit a long fly out that was enough to score Ichiro. Ellsbury grounded out to end the innning, but the score was now 10-3.

Following Ramirez's inning, the Athletics didn't get much else going offenseively. Shawn Kelley, Adam Warren and Matt Thornton all had solid, scoreless stints out of the bullpen.

In the ninth inning, Gardner hit a two-run home run to further chip into the A's lead. The Yankees then threatened to add more, forcing the A's to remove Jim Johnson. Luke Gregerson came in and quickly sealed a 10-5 Athletics win. The Yankees made it interesting at the end, but on the whole, it was a bad day.

After an off-day tomorrow, the Yankees will return home to take on the Blue Jays in a series starting Tuesday.

Box score.

A look at what to expect from Yankees starting pitchers going forward according to Fielding Independent Pitching.

Outside of the masterful performance of Masahiro Tanaka, Yankees starting pitching has not lived up to expectations so far in 2014. Injuries have piled up and the replacements have not gotten the job done on a consistent basis, but is there hope that they can get back on track for the balance of the season? In order to determine that, it's helpful to observe what FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) says about them. While ERA does a good job of telling us what has happened, FIP is more effective at predicting future performance by focusing only on what a pitcher can control (walks, strikeouts, and home runs). Here are the Yankee pitchers with five or more starts so far and their FIP values (all data from Baseball-Reference as of 6/13/14) :

Masahiro Tanaka

Tanaka has arguably been the best starter in the AL so far this year and though he has outperformed his FIP, the small correction he is due for should keep him at an elite level from here on out. That contract is looking less ridiculous every time he takes the mound.

Hiroki Kuroda

The aging Kuroda is walking batters at the lowest rate of his career, but it's also coming with a career-low strikeout rate and a jump in home run rate compared to last year. He's been nothing more than an average starter and his FIP indicates that he'll probably stay around that level going forward. The Yankees expected a little more from their number two starter.

Vidal Nuno

At the start of the year, Nuno barely made the roster as a long reliever. After Ivan Nova's season-ending injury forced him into the rotation, it's clear that he's best suited for his original role. The lefty just doesn't have the stuff to fool hitters multiple times throughout a game and should be the first to return to the bullpen once Sabathia or Pineda re-join the team.

CC Sabathia

Before being shut down with a knee injury, the big man was striking out batters at a career-high rate and walking them at a career low. The problem was that balls were leaving the park against him at an astronomical rate (HR/FB of 23.3%, average is about 10%). If he can maintain the command he showed to start the year, the possible correction in home run rate he's due could mean a very effective Sabathia when he returns.

David Phelps

As another guy who started the season as a long reliever, Phelps' ERA has been about the same as Vidal Nuno's. The good news for Phelps is that he has actually been much better than Nuno according to FIP. If he stays in the rotation the Yankees should get league average performance from him for the balance of the year.

Chase Whitley

Whitley has seemingly come out of nowhere to be the Yankees' second best starter so far. He's blended excellent control with a stingy home run rate to dominate the relatively weak lineups he's faced. As the competition gets tougher and his home run rate regresses to the mean, he's sure to hit a few bumps in the road. However, as his FIP indicates, we might still be calling Whitley the Yankees' number two starter by season's end if he can maintain his pinpoint control and keep inducing ground balls.

While most Yankee starters have FIP values that say they have pitched better than their ERA shows, the corrections they are due for are marginal at best. Unless a deal is made to acquire a top of the rotation arm, Yankee fans will have to rejoice when it's Tanaka Time and hope for the best the other four days. We don't need another hero, we just need another Masahiro.