The Yankees are 13-13 and in fourth place in the American League East.  Yes, this is out of the ordinary for a team so accustomed to winning.  However, if you stop and think about it for one moment, its not the most far-fetched idea in the universe.

What it boils down to is this: The New York Yankees have rookies starting 40% of their games on the mound.  Much like a quarterback in football, most rookies are at best up-and-down in their first full season in The Show.  When you watch Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes, you know that the stuff is there, but you can’t comprehend why they can’t put it all together and win more games.

They’re rookies.  Plain and simple, they are young kids pitching their first full season in the majors.  They’ve been scouted by opposing teams, they know what’s coming now.  The challenge is for the two pitchers to make their adjustments.

Some things can’t be scouted.  You know Joba Chamberlain has 100-mile-per-hour heat and you know he’s got a slider that registers at 91.  That’s going to be a matter of hitters catching up to pitches.  Kennedy has great stuff, but he is not over-powering.  Hughes does, but his pitches have been flat for a lot of his starts.  A fastball without movement is easily hittable for major-leaguers.  Right now, Hughes has plenty of velocity, but it is not moving in the strike zone like he is capable of.

Yankee fans: relax.  This is what you get when you rely on kids to win you a lot of games.  Patience is not a word that is used in The Bronx.  They want to win every single year, and you should want that.  However, you cannot take kids with 160 innings of minor league experience, toss them in the majors, and then think that they’ll continue their same level of dominance.  It doesn’t happen, at least not right away.

Besides, you think The Rays are going to stay in first place forever?

I have a sinking suspicion that the bullpen is going to be a source of frustration for me in my coverage of the New York Mets this year. 

The Bullpen and its wretched mis-management is one of two big problems the Mets have right now, the other being that they can’t stop grounding into double plays and killing their rallies.

Will someone, anyone tell me what Aaron Heilman has done to deserve to appear in 12 (count them, 12) of the Mets first 16 games this year? Heilman has surrendered runs in five of his appearences, which not a superb rate for your supposed “eighth inning guy.” 

However, there is much more to the problem than just Aaron Heilman.  Manager Willie Randolph, for whatever reason, only uses Pedro Feliciano to get that coveted lefty-lefty matchup in the late innings.  That’s foolishness to use your second-best reliever (maybe third-best if Duaner Sanchez consistently pitches well again) as nothing more than a specialist.  If you want to get that matchup, use that lifeless vessel known as Scott Schoeneweis as your guy.  It is ludicris that Schoeneweis has actually pitched 1/3 of an inning more than Feliciano so far this season.

I have been a Randolph supporter through his entire tenure as the Mets manager.  Right from the beginning I thought he was the right man for the job, but the time has come where he can officially be called stubborn.  He hasn’t learned from Guillermo Mota in ‘06 (or ‘07 for that matter) that you can’t just ride one reliever all the time.  And you really shouldn’t ride an ineffective reliever all the time, either.  However, Heilman continues to enter games at a dizzying pace (on pace for 121 appearences).  At this rate, his arm should fall off around June 1st. 

Hopefully Sanchez will continue the effective start he’s had.  He hasn’t let up a run in his first four appearences and looks to have life on his pitches.  It would be a huge boost to the pen if he can return to his ‘06 form.

Randolph used 12 relievers in their three-game set with the Philadelphia Phillies and they won two of those games.  Then, Mets fans watched as the talented, but light-hitting, Felix Pie hit the gopher ball off of Jorge Sosa, courtesy of Aaron Heilman loading up the bases and a small effort from Jose Reyes’s fielding error. 

This team needs an eight-inning effort badly right now.  Someone has got to give this bullpen the night off.

What a time to be a baseball writer in New York.  When you thought the days of a Steinbrenner ranting and raving about what is going on with the Yankees, guess again.

Hank Steinbrenner has gone on record with his opinion about the use of Joba Chamberlain.  He said you’d have to be “an idiot” not to use him as a starting pitcher.

Well, good luck with that one, Hank, because you’re stuck with Joba as part of the best late-inning combination in baseball.  What a shame.

First of all, the fact is, it isn’t smart to use Chamberlain as a starter.  Why disrupt the one thing you have going on your pitching staff? He’s not ready to be a starter in the majors, he’s got electric stuff that will completely shutdown the opposing lineup in the late innings, he’s 22, why rush him into the rotation?

Nevertheless, they’re stuck with him there for a while.  Chamberlain would have to begin preparing entirely differently if he is to become a starter.  Simply, he’d have to go back to the minor leagues and re-work himself back into going six or seven innings.  Is that really worth it?

Chamberlain and Rivera are even better than the Yankees’ mid-90s duo of Rivera setting up then-closer John Wetteland.  Chamberlain has clearly found a role where he is not only effective, but dominant and should one day take over for Mariano Rivera as the Yankees closer.  If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.

You supposedly have starting pitchers that will become aces in Ian Kennedy and Philip Hughes.  I don’t rule that out, but clearly there has been too much place on their shoulders.  Kennedy is trying to be way too fine with his pitches instead of just throwing strikes and getting hitters out.  He’s aiming instead of throwing.  Hughes is just getting hit around with 25 hits and 16 earned runs against him in 16 1/3 innings.  They have two of the three worst E.R.A.s on the team.

So, Steinbrenner, in all of his great baseball wisdom, decides he’s going to throw Chamberlain into the same labyrinth that Kennedy and Hughes haven’t been able to navigate their way through. Maybe Chamberlain has a little more success than the ladder, but why take the risk when you’ve got something you can already count on?

If you want, start using Chamberlain differently in his relief role.  Have him immediately proceed the starter and ride him all the way to the 9th inning.  He’ll need a little more rest between appearences, but you can assume that, at least once in a while, they won’t need him at all on given nights.

Or move him to the rotation and watch him get bombed.  There’s no doubting Chamberlain’s stuff, but part of his success is that teams only see him one or two innings at a time.  There’s no substitute for stepping up to the plate and seeing a pitcher’s stuff first-hand.  The more teams see him, someone will eventually catch up to his fastball.  Then they’ll be able to key on that slider, nasty as it is, someone will hit, these are professionals.  That will force Chamberlain to make his adjustments and if he can’t do it, he becomes another Jeff Weaver.

Now, I don’t think that will happen.  I think he’ll remain effective in the long-run, but there could be a lot of short-term damage if this move is made right now.  If Steinbrenner wanted him to be a starter, he’d have made his statement in Spring Training, not now.

It took about three weeks, but order has been restored in the AL East and AL West.  The Yankees and the Red Sox returned to their perches as the top team in the division, meanwhile the Angels have shaken off an early slumber to claim the top spot out west.  The Florida Marlins are still in first place in the NL East, but the Mets are on their way.  The St. Louis Cardinals are, at 11-4, in first place in the NL Central.  There is no one anywhere, except in St. Louis, perhaps, that saw this one coming.  However, it is early and I don’t think the Cardinals are that good.  The Cubs, Reds and Brewers should be slugging it out for the Central when all is said and done.

The story of the year so far remains the AL Central.  The standings are in reverse order of what many writers, including this one, predicted in the beginning of the year.  However, after getting embarassed by a combined score of 18-0 over the weekend, things have begun to fall in place for the Tigers, scoring 30 runs in their past three games, including a 13-2 whipping of the equally mysterious Cleveland Indians.

The Tigers teed off on C.C. Sabathia, whose ERA this season after four starts is more than two touchdowns.  Edgar Renteria hit a grand slam off Sabathia in the fifth and totaled five RBIs on the night.  Miguel Cabrera matched that for Detroit, knocking in five runs himself.  Detroit is still without Dontrelle Willis, Joel Zumaya and Curtis Granderson, all key pieces to their team, but have begun to show signs of being the team everyone thought they would be when they acquired Cabrera and Willis from Florida in the off-season.

On the other hand, the Cleveland Indians look lifeless right now.  Closer Joe Borowski went on the DL the day after blowing a save against the Red Sox in which Manny Ramirez hit a go-ahead two-run homer off him.  If he actually gets his job back when he comes off the disabled list, it means Cleveland is in serious trouble in the ninth inning anytime they have a lead.

In the rotation, Sabathia has gotten roughed up in all four of his outings.  Fausto Carmona has been better, but has only averaged 5 1/3 innings per start.  He was also lifted from his last start after only 3 1/3 when he walked eight batters in that span.  Paul Byrd has been even less impressive.  It is Jake Westbrook and Cliff Lee leading the way for the Tribe right now.  Unless that changes, the Indians are in for a very long season. 

Fantasy Update:
My team fell to HKC Punch 7-6 this week, our record is 10-14-4 overall, but the winds of change have come as I’ve added Cliff Lee and Zack Greinke to my stable of arms.  My team still isn’t raking like I had hoped, especially in the power department, but I am confident these bats will begin to come around.

If it wasn’t April 14th, the Fox Network would have been under siege by millions of angry baseball fans about cutting away in the middle of a full count to show a NASCAR event.

Actually, they might have done that anyway, I know I would.

On what planet did Fox think it was okay to cut from Robinson Cano at the plate with a 3-2 count and the bases loaded?

Well, I didn’t notice, I actually fell asleep in the seventh inning of that game, if you can believe it.  So I am going by what I was told.

Pardon me if those of us living above the Mason-Dixon line don’t give a damn about nascar, but, just think about it logically for a second.  Who is watching this game? What people from what cities are watching?

Boston and New York.

How many nascar fans do you think there are in those two cities? Not many.

I later heard that nascar called up Fox and demanded their race be put on, which makes me wonder why Fox would buckle so easily to a fourth-rate sport, then I remember who they cater to in the first place (political joke, sorry, I try to keep that to a minimum).

Just imagine for a second that it was late September and this game was a pivotal matchup between the Red Sox and the Yankees.  The division and possibly the playoff life of one of the teams is on the line.  Papelbon is in the game and has the bases loaded, Cano is hacking away, fighting off the full count to stay alive.  Papelbon winds, delivers…….

Then a voice greets you with “welcome to the brickyard 400″ or whatever nonsense they are running in late September.

Utter nonsense.  I actually haven’t had much time to read and see if anyone is making a big deal out of this.  Maybe it isn’t and I’m the only one, I’ll have to look.  I can’t even imagine what reason there is for televising nascar, but, its on.  I’ll take Cano with the bases loaded in the ninth any day, however.

The New York Mets are 5-5, which is not where most fans thought they would be at this point in the season.  However, that is not cause for alarm because there are still 152 games to go and plenty of time to work out the kinks and get the team rolling.

On the other hand, there is a concern with manager Willie Randolph’s handling of his pitchers.

Personally, I like Willie, I think he’s doing a good job and I don’t really blame him for last September’s colossal collapse.  But this is the one area in which I’ve very often disagreed with his decisions.

He tends to fall in love with using the same guys over and over.  Guillermo Mota immediately comes to mind.  He overused him in the 2006 playoffs while Roberto Hernandez, who was still very effective in my opinion, wasted away in the pen night after night.

Even last year when Mota was just awful from start to finish, Willie would still use him in any situation.

Now, I don’t believe that this is entirely Randolph’s fault, but I don’t understand why he likes using the guys that aren’t even his best arms on the staff.

This year its Aaron Heilman and Jorge Sosa who’ve already gotten a lot of work for this point in the year.

Heilman and Sosa have both appeared in six games and pitched seven innings.  At this rate, they will appear in about 96 games this season.

But, what I don’t understand is why them? Pedro Feliciano is easily the most effective middle-relief man in that bullpen, but we have only seen him three times in the first ten games.  Is he burning out the less-effective pitchers now so that Feliciano and Wagner will be fresh in September?
In my opinion, there is one thing Randolph has never had in his entire tenure with New York:  11 pitchers that he isn’t afraid to use in any situation.

He’s been saddled with guys like Manny Aybar, Felix Heredia, the non-steroid version of Mota and Scott Schoeneweis every year and is eventually forced to use them and watch them blow up.

The solution is simple.  If you want Randolph around for the long-term, then give him some say in the process.  Get the pitchers he wants and then if the bullpen is mis-managed you at least know who is to blame.

While you’re at it, get rid of Rick Pederson, because I am sure he has something to do with all of this.

Tune in tonight to my guest spot on Randy Sobel’s baseball show

http://www.wfturadio.com/

If that doesn’t work then do this:
http://www.shoutcast.com/
then search WFTU in the box.

The Baltimore Orioles are 6-1 and leading the AL East.

That is just one of the many, many strange things going on in Major League Baseball’s first couple of weeks.  However, the fact that the O’s lead the AL East is staggering, even for the early part of the season.

Why? Well, a few reasons.  One: they are hitting.  Luke Scott, Luis Hernandez, Brian Roberts, Aubrey Huff, Kevin Millar and Jay Payton are all hitting .300 or better with Nick Markakis just below at .296.  Huff is also leading the way knocking in 12 runs in his first seven games with the rest of the lineup contributing their fair share.

Even odder is the fact that the starting rotation is getting hit fairly hard for the most part.  Daniel Cabrera has an ERA of 9.00, Jeremy Guthrie’s ERA is 5.11, Adam Loewen gave up four earned runs in his first start, but his record is spotless as is Steve Trachsel’s who tossed 5 2/3 innings giving up two runs in his first start and won.  Brian Burres also won his only start pitching effectively over six innings.

The bullpen has been dynamite with Dennis Safarte, Matt Albers, Jamie Walker combining for four victories in relief.  No one in the bullpen has given up a run, save for Burres, but his earned run against came in a starting effort.

While it seems unlikely that the Orioles will continue this stretch of play, it is very likely that this team has been underestimated by writers, fans and analyists everywhere and may not be as bad as we all think.  Look for the Red Sox to eventually get hot and expect Toronto and New York to be not far behind.  But the Orioles could theoretically keep themselves in this race for quite some time.

Camden Yards is perhaps the best park in baseball and they might finally get some meaningful August and September games again.  Don’t expect the World Series trophy to be making an appearence, or even a playoff game, but there is certainly hope in the yard Cal Ripken used to call home.

I made it back from Pittsburgh alive.  The Pirates gave up seven runs in the first three innings and then proceeded to make it all the way back to a tie game.  Then lost it in the 12th.  Sounds like the Pirates to me.

Next real update tomorrow afternoon from the NYS office.  Topic: Why the baseball season could follow the utter insanity of the previous fall’s college football season.

On tuesday morning, I arrived at the office of New York Sportscene and sat down to do whatever it is that I do around here. Suddenly, I was asked to go cover Opening Day at Yankee Stadium. The final one.

Needless to say, as a young writer just getting my start in the business, I was very excited to be a part of such an event.

It was quite an event, I have to say. I detoured from my normal press box routine and didn’t work on my laptop during the game, keeping only a scorecard and a pencil in front of me so that I could enjoy the game while still keeping notes about what to ask the players later.

The night was a spectacle from start to finish. From Reggie Jackson’s first pitch, to the pitchers duel that would ensue between Chien-Ming Wang and Roy Halladay, to Melky Cabrera’s two fantastic grabs in Center field.

Unfortunately, there was no batting practice. I was looking forward to that the most because I’d have gotten to go out onto the field to watch, but it was cancelled by the rain. There were some people out there as the players stretched, but that is about it. I did go out there for a little while, at least and it was nice to see the dedicated fans that came out hoping to see some B.P.

The game couldn’t have been scripted any better for New York. Wang pitched seven strong innings and turned the ball over to Joba Chamberlain in the eighth. Chamberlain struck out two batters to end the frame and passed it on to Mariano Rivera in the ninth. Rivera pitched a perfect ninth and gave the ball to Joe Girardi and said “That’s number 1, let’s go get more.”

“It was a neat moment for me,” Girardi said after the game.

I thought so, too.

No more updates until I get back from Ohio and Pittsburgh.  I’ll get to see PNC Park for the first time.  I will be writing again on tuesday.