Kuzul

The New York Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks begin a three-game series Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.  This interleague matchup doesn’t occur too often, the most memorable being the 2001 World Series where Arizona prevailed in seven games. The Yankees were off to an awful start this season, featuring a lineup already depleted by injuries. They’ve since won six of their last 10 and trail Boston by only 1.5 games.The Diamondbacks have also been playing well of late.  They’ve won seven of their last 10 thanks to quality pitching and timely hitting. Here are the players that will have the most impact in deciding the winner of this series.  Robinson Cano, Yankees Robinson Cano will be the best player on the field when these two teams get together.  The Yankees' second baseman has had a decent start to the season, hitting .311 with three home runs and eight RBI. With guys ...

The New York Yankees off-season has been a quiet one due to ownership implementing a new frugal stance. Instead of story-lines about signing the biggest free agents, Yankee fans were relegated to watching the realities of missing the 2013 postseason grow by the day. So as a result, fans, the media, and bloggers alike have been provided with plenty of things to grumble about. And for the first time in almost two decades, the paved regular-season road to October that the Yankees build during the off-season is no longer a smooth ride. But in reality, not all hope is lost yet; and here are three reasons why.Begin Slideshow

The New York Yankees have lost the last four games that CC Sabathia has started. Of all the stats that can be broken down during the Yankees' slide, none illustrates why they have dropped 10 games in the standings more than that.The Yankees need to be able to hand the ball to Sabathia and get a win. Instead, Sabathia has not shut down the opposition and is not the stable arm that manager Joe Girardi can count on to give the bullpen the night off.He has not been terrible in his starts. This is not a Kevin Brown-like meltdown. But according to Erik Boland of Newsday, his velocity is down. And games he used to breeze through are now long, drawn-out affairs where the bullpen needs to be up in the sixth inning.His September 14th start against Tampa Bay was a typical recent start. He started off fine, keeping the ...

Friday night's game did not go according to plan for the Yankees.Coming off a series where they took two out of three against the Boston Red Sox, the Bombers had their ace on the mound in CC Sabathia pitching against the Tampa Bay Rays.The Yankees needed to get their homestand off on the right foot with the Baltimore Orioles, who they are tied with in the A.L. East for first place, off playing the Oakland A's.Luckily for the Yankees, the Orioles lost, because they were no better, losing 6-4 in the opener.As for Sabathia, he lost his third decision in a row, dropping his 2012 season record to 13-6.The Yankees' ace has yet to get a win since the team beat the Cleveland Indians back on August 24. Since then, Sabathia is 0-3 and has hardly looked like his usual self.Is it time to start worrying about the Yankees' ace ...

The New York Yankees have battled injuries to their starting rotation the entire season, and now their ace, CC Sabathia, is the latest pitcher to fall victim. Wallace Matthews of ESPNNewYork.com is reporting that Sabathia will be headed to the disabled list with stiffness in his throwing elbow. According to Girardi, Sabathia first felt the stiffness after pitching a complete game against the Seattle Mariners on Aug. 3 at Yankee Stadium. A subsequent MRI came back clean, so Sabathia made his next start five days later in Detroit, but left after 6 1/3 innings and just 94 pitches. Girardi said the stiffness resurfaced after that start, but the decision to put Sabathia on the DL was not made until about 4 p.m. Saturday. Sabathia's injury is just the latest in a slew of trainer's room problems for the Bombers. Sabathia joins Andy Pettitte, Michael Pineda and Mariano Rivera as a member of ...

**** UPDATE (8:25 p.m.)*****The Yankees will use Derek Lowe out of the bullpen when he arrives to New York on Monday, according to Marc Carig of the Newark-Star Ledger. David Phelps is expected to start in place of CC Sabathia when the Yankees start their series with the Texas Rangers.  Sources: Phelps starts Monday. Lowe expected to be in the bullpen by Monday— Marc Carig (@MarcCarig) August 11, 2012    Remember when the Yankees passed on Derek Lowe to sign A.J. Burnett in December of 2008?It's funny how things change in just four years, as according to Marc Carig of the Newark-Star Ledger, the Yankees have signed Lowe to a deal for the remainder of the 2012 season.  Source: Yankees have acquired Derek Lowe.— Marc Carig (@MarcCarig) August 11, 2012  The news of the Yankees signing Lowe comes after it was announced that they will put their ace CC Sabathia on the 15-day DL with ...

With the fantasy-trade deadlines coming up this week or next (I have four red-letter dates this Friday), it's time for owners to make one last pitch for baseball's elite categorical contributors.AccuScore, a company that specializes in thorough game simulations, has made a few on-the-fly revisions to its seasonal projections.These 50 starting pitchers, based on AccuScore projections (not mine), will register at least 55 strikeouts from this point forward (Aug. 7-Sept. 30): Part I1. CC Sabathia, Yankees—772. Justin Verlander, Tigers—753. Yu Darvish, Rangers—754. Cole Hamels, Phillies—725. Gio Gonzalez, Nationals—686. Adam Wainwright, Cardinals—687. Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers—688. Lance Lynn, Cardinals—679. Roy Halladay, Phillies—6710. James Shields, Rays—6711. Felix Hernandez, Mariners—6712. Cliff Lee, Phillies—6713. Marco Estrada, Brewers—6714. Yovani Gallardo, Brewers—6715. Francisco Liriano, White Sox—6616. Madison Bumgarner, Giants—6517. Zack Greinke, Angels—6518. Tim Lincecum, Giants—6519. Matt Cain, Giants—6520. Mat Latos, Reds—6421. Jered Weaver, Angels—6422. Jeff Samardzija, Cubs—6323. David Price, Rays—6324. Stephen Strasburg, Nationals—6325. Erik Bedard, Pirates—63 Part II26. Felix Doubront, Red ...

Here is one thing we can all agree on: CC Sabathia cannot pitch every day.Thankfully for the New York Yankees, neither can Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers or Jared Weaver of the Los Angeles Angels. The burning question, however, is whether the other Yankees starters can measure up to the rotations they might face during the postseason.The Yankees failed to acquire a starting pitcher at the trade deadline either because they felt the price  was too high or because the anticipated return of Andy Pettitte, the winningest pitcher in postseason history, will more than offset the Angels' acquisition of Zack Greinke and the Texas Rangers' trade for Ryan Dempster.Pettitte is the wild card in the Yankees' postseason expectations. He and Sabathia are accustomed to big-game situations.That cannot be said for the rest of the rotation. Hiroki Kuroda has been the most consistent starter after Sabathia, and Phil Hughes hit his stride in late June and has ...

It's time for a crazy trade idea with less than 10 days left until the trade deadline.We know the New York Yankees and their GM Brian Cashman would prefer not to make a deal between now and July 31.But, if an opportunity presents itself to Cashman and the Yankees even he knows he would look into it.There's been quite a few rumors going around that Cliff Lee of the Phillies could be on the block and could be traded, again.He was traded twice at the deadline back in 2009 and 2010 in deals that shaped the Phillies and Rangers postseason hopes. With Lee, both teams reached the World Series.With the Phillies falling slowly out of the playoff race with each loss, they have some nice trade chips on their team that they can shed.Shane Victorino is likely to be dealt, as could Hunter Pence. Cole Hamels was rumored to be ...

Cleveland is a city that is starving for a winner. Unfortunately for Cleveland sports fans the owners of teams are not always on the same page as what the fans would like to see. No team proves this more than the Cleveland Indians.So far through the 2012 season, the Indians are 44-41 and are dead last in the MLB in attendance. Lately Tribe closer Chris Perez has been spouting off to the Cleveland fans about their lack of loyalty to the team, questioning the city’s blind loyalty to the Browns and lack of support for the Tribe.Perez makes some good points, but he also needs to realize that his team is just above average right now and are only in the hunt thanks to being in an extremely subpar division. However, that does not explain why Cleveland has not supported the Indians a little bit better this year. In order ...