AL East

With the Red Sox off to a sluggish 2-5 start, their worst since 1996, it leaves fans wondering where this premiere-looking offense is hiding.

While Boston's pitching thus far hasn't been exactly stellar itself, the offense looks even worse.  Following a 5-3 win on Opening Day, the Red Sox have dropped five of their last six games leading up to the 2-5 record. Through those six games, the Red Sox have allowed 23 runs across the plate.

It's all downhill from here...

The New York Yankees play the second game of a three game set with Tampa Bay tonight at 7 p.m. on MY9 in New York. A.J. Burnett will make his second start and look to go deeper into the game especially with the Yankees bullpen in flux. Matt Garza makes the start for the Rays. Here are the lineups via Peter Abraham

Yankees
Gardner(cf)
Jeter(ss)
Teixera(1b)
Swisher(lf)
Posada(dh)
Cano(2b)
Nady(rf)
Pena(3b)
Molina(c)

My love for Mr. Swisher runs unconditional. At least until the next slump.

Red-hot hitting, and an inning of relief to boot. Plus, he's an entertaining chap.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways:

One.

Two.

Three.

The emergence of the MLB Network over the past few months has been outstanding.  Truth be told, any network that provides a reasonable alternative to John Kruk bumbling and stumbling is probably going to get a fair chance, even if said network contains a healthy dosage of Harold Reynolds.

The Yankees will open up their home schedule with a four game series against the Cleveland Indians. The Sunday game will be the biggest game, not the home opener, not friday or Saturday, the series finale, why you ask?

Carl "American Idle" Pavano will be facing the Yankees.

Here are your lineups for today's opening game of a three-game series with the defending AL champs, the Tampa Bay Rays, and the New York Yankees.

Alex Rodriguez is back at Steinbrenner Field in the next step of his rehab.

He was taking grounders and hitting off a tee. Peter Abraham is reporting he was hitting mostly everything the other way. Rodriguez is expected to meet with the media after his session is over and then later on tonight before the game.

I think he won't say much and be just fine but you never know with Rodriguez—the bottom line is the Yankees need him. 

The Yankees were essentially one out away from a huge come-from-behind victory in the eighth inning, but it just wasn’t meant to be. The Yankees three-game winning streak was snapped by the Royals on Sunday in an exciting back-and-forth game.

Quick ‘Cap

The Yankees got on the board early behind the wheels of Brett Gardner, as he singled, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout, and scored on a wild pitch.

Now we can say the Yankees are officially on a roll. Their 6-1 win over the Royals last night marked their third straight. Fans saw a completely different CC Sabathia compared to his opening day start.

And in my mind, I think fans saw the real CC last night. The Yankees were playing a perfect ballgame until the ninth inning when the Royals finally squeaked out their lone run, but let’s see how they built that lead.