New York Yankees

The Yankees signed outfielder Marcus Thames this season to do one job—hit lefties.

So far, all he has done is destroy lefties.

Try these numbers on for size: 8 G, 16 AB, 3 R, 10 H, 3 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 3 BB, 4 K, .625 AVG, .684 OBP, 1.000 SLG, 1.684 OPS.

Now, so far Thames’ outfield defense has been pretty atrocious, but nights like last night (3-for-3 with a double and an RBI) make it hard to stay mad at him.

The Yankees wrapped up their nine game road trip last night with a win over the Baltimore Orioles. They improved to 14-7 on the season and remain 2.5 games behind AL East leader, Tampa Bay. There are only two teams in baseball with a better record than the Yankees right now, Tampa Bay and the St. Louis Cardinals.

Looking back on the series with the O's, here are my thoughts.

Back on the Winning Track

Robinson Cano posted his sixth career multi-homer game, and A.J. Burnett pitched eight scoreless innings as New York blanked Baltimore, 4-0, Thursday night at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

New York finished 5-4 on their nine-game road trip, while Baltimore missed an opportunity to win their first series of the season.

After Cano grounded out to end the first inning, his next three at bats resulted in extra-base hits.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened up in 1992.

It was the resurrection of baseball in Baltimore as well as for the rest of the country.

Back then, other teams wanted their 'Taj Mahal' of a stadium. Fans can go see new ballparks in any place of the country.

In our town, we have couple of new ballparks, a new hockey arena, a new football stadium, and a new soccer stadium.

The thought was new stadium would mean new revenue. New revenue would mean winning championships.

One of the biggest factors in bringing up young players from the minor leagues is when they have done all they can do down on the farm. 

A young player who dominates his minor league-level over a couple-month period should be promoted to the next level. A player who dominates Triple A over a long period should also be promoted. 

No matter who is in the major leagues in front of him.

No reason to keep a young pitcher in Triple-A "for more seasoning" when he has filled up every spice rack in the country. 

The 1980s is the only decade in the history of Major League Baseball with three relief pitchers in the Hall of Fame.

The 1980s was the decade that we started seeing prevalence with career relief pitching.

In fact, every relief pitcher in this top 10, except one, started in 0-10 percent of their career games.

That’s almost like today.

There are certainly some important differences in today’s relief pitching and the relief pitching of the 80s. One difference, relief pitchers of the 80s chewed up more innings.

When you think of recent Yankees teams, generally the first thing that comes to mind is the high-scoring offense.

With guys like Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano, and Derek Jeter leading your offense, the Yankees are never out of any games where they are behind.

But when you get right down to what the major strength of the current Yankees really is, you will see that it is the starting pitching.

When at his best, AJ Burnett is one of the best pitchers in baseball.

When Burnett is at his best, he is dominant.

When he is at his best is the key.

Every other time, he seems downright terrible.

The last World Series was a prime example.

Burnett started Game Two. He was brilliant, giving up one lonely run and scattered four hits in seven innings of work. The victory jump-started the Yankees in the World Series who, at the time, had a one-game deficit to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Yankees catcher Jorge Posada was hit in the knee with a pitch from Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie in the second inning yesterday and had to come out of the game after he felt numbness while running the bases. There is no long-term damage done to Posada, but he will probably have to sit at least a day according to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.

This is my most recent endeavor. I am compiling All-Franchise Teams based on African Americans.

The idea came to me as a result of the recent hiring of Joe Morgan by the Cincinnati Reds. Morgan brought to light the decline in African-American players in MLB.

I have decided to start with the Yankees. It is part of my master plan to complete the American and National Leagues if I live long enough.

Some teams, especially at certain positions are paper thin when it comes to African-Americans.