New York Yankees

The New York Yankees announced Tuesday that they are lowering the prices of many of their premium seats and giving out free tickets to fans in certain premium sections. Fans who have already purchased packages for the affected seats will be able to obtain a refund for the remaining games.

Here are the notes and lineups for tonight's game:

- In the last two games, the Yanks have one walk and 17 strikeouts.

- Robinson Cano is up to .380 and has a 14-game hitting streak.

- Nick Swisher is struggling, going 6 for his last 35, and has two RBI in that time.

- Hideki Matsui has a seven-game hitting streak and is 11 of his last 27.

- The Yankees have scored three runs in the last 19 innings.

- The Yanks are 32-39 in April over the last three seasons.

April
28
This from Hal Steinbrenner via the Yankees:

As much as I hate to say it, reports of the Yankees' demise are premature. 

Yes, they just got swept by their arch rivals in humiliating fashion. Looking at the bigger picture though, they are 9-9 so far without their best player. Plus, they could have easily won two of the games against the Sox.

In reality, the Yankees are far from done. This series didn't really tell us that much about where they would finish. However, it did give me a chance to look at the squad more closely. Here are the three positives and negatives that I gleaned from this weekend's series:

Over the next month or so, I'm going to break down a different MLB team each day, and make a bold prediction as to what they're looking at, position wise, come September.

Naturally, I'll start with my team—the Seattle Mariners.

It was painfully obvious last year, that the Mariners were not a good team. Suffice to say, almost nothing went right in a 101 loss, last place season. The 2008 Mariners were also the first team in history with a $100 million payroll to lose 100 games. Not an accomplishment to be proud of.

The 2008 Seattle Mariners had the second-worst record in baseball (61-101); it was a campaign of no power and no pitching.

They paid a Carlos Silva $12 million over the season to lose 16 games—almost $1 million per loss.

They gave up five promising prospects for an ace—Erik Bedard—who pitched just 81 innings. GM Bill Bavasi probably thought he was buying job security when he swung the deal, but he was actually ringing up his own ticket out of town.

According to George King of the NY Post, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said, “there is a chance,” that Alex Rodriguez plays in a minor league rehab game as soon as this week.

Alex Rodriguez will go through his third baserunning session today in Tampa and usually that is enough for a player to make the next step in the rehab process: Minor league games.

The New York Yankees have struggled to a .500 record after three weeks of the young baseball season.

It seems as though matters are worse than their record would indicate.

In three of the games, the Yankees have truly been embarrassed.

In Tampa, the Yankees were beaten 15-5 by the Rays.

At home against Cleveland, starter Chien Ming-Wang was abused for the three straight start and the Indians clobbered New York 22-4.