It’s tough to sweep a doubleheader, but it’s also tough to not get greedy and hope for that sweep after the Yankees took the first game on Wednesday afternoon. The Dodgers earned the doubleheader split on Wednesday night with a 6-0 win, a game that knocked New York’s run differential down to an even zero on the season — 276 runs scored, 276 runs allowed. The surest sign of mediocrity.

(Presswire)

Another Dud
For the third time in four June starts, Phil Hughes failed to put up something that even resembled a good start. Your definition of a “good start” may vary, but I think we can all agree on that. The Dodgers had four hits and two runs before Phil recorded his first out, and through five innings of work he allowed five runs on ten hits (two doubles and eight singles) and 80 total pitches. Hughes went to a two-strike count on eleven of 28 hitters faced and five ended up with base hits. Three struck out. That’s bad. His night ended after six innings of five-run ball.

We’re pretty close to the halfway point of the season and it’s clear Hughes is the weak link in the rotation. That’s not exactly breaking news. Vidal Nuno is still on the Triple-A DL and Michael Pineda is a little less than three weeks away from completing his rehab assignment, so the only alternative at the moment is Ivan Nova. I guess they could pull Adam Warren out of the bullpen, but I don’t really like that idea. He’s fine right where he is. I have no faith in Nova — he’s been good in three Triple-A starts so far, to be fair — so Phil has three weeks at the most to show he belongs in the rotation. If he shows no improvement, like real tangible improvement and not just two or three okay starts, the Yankees have to stick him in the bullpen and go with someone else, his impending free agency be damned. Hughes has made his bed and the lineup is too weak to deal with these type of performances every five days.

No Use For An Offense
After scoring six runs in each of their last two games, the Yankees got back to their roots on Wednesday night and were shut out for the sixth time this season. This was their 71st game. They were shut out six times in 162 games last summer, for comparison. That shouldn’t be a surprise though, it’s really hard to take this lineup seriously when it features Jayson Nix batting second, Vernon Wells batting cleanup, and Thomas Neal batting fifth. At some point the front office will show some urgency and get another bat or three. At least I hope.

Cy Capuano. (AP/Frank Franklin II)

The Yankees put a total of four men on base in the entire game: a Lyle Overbay (!) infield single, a Nix infield single, and a Robinson Cano legitimate line drive single to the outfield. Robbie was thrown out trying to stretch it into the double though, so it might as well be a fly out in the box score. Nix took a pitch to the ribs with two outs in the ninth and that was it, that’s the offense. Two runners managed to go beyond first base — Nix went first-to-third on Cano’s single, then he took second on a defensive indifference in the ninth — and 17 of the final 18 men they sent to the plate made outs. Believe it or not, the Yankees are now averaging 3.64 runs per game at Yankee Stadium and 4.12 runs per game on the road. Half-a-run per game difference!

Leftovers
Warren was nice enough to pick up Hughes and allow the #obligatoryhomer to the first batter he faced, on the first pitch no less. On the bright side, he was the only Yankees pitcher to retire Hanley Ramirez on Wednesday. Hanley went 4-for-4 during game one and 2-for-4 in game two. Warren picked up the bullpen in the second game of the doubleheader by soaking up the final three innings. He allowed just the one run.

I’m not sure what else to put here. Wells went 0-for-3 and is down to .224/.266/.372 (70 wRC+) for the season. It’s just a slump though, he’ll turn it around any game now. David Adams went 0-for-2 before being lifted for a pinch-hitter and is down to .200/.220/.313 (39 wRC+) on the year. Zoilo Almonte did make his big league debut with a pinch-hitting appearance in the ninth inning, grounding out sharply to third against Brandon League. Welcome to the show, kid.

Box Score, WPA Graph & Standings
Go to MLB.com for the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs for the nerd store, and ESPN the updated standings. The Orioles and Blue Jays won while the Rays beat the Red Sox, so the Yankees are two back of Boston, one back of Baltimore, three up on Tampa, and four up on surging Toronto. They need to start stringing some wins together.

Source: FanGraphs

Up Next
The Rays are coming to town for a four-game weekend series starting Thursday night, when Andy Pettitte matches up against fellow left-hander Matt Moore. Check out RAB Tickets if you want to catch the game. Plenty of seats available.

A win is a win, and the Yankees have now strung together two wins following their two ugliest weeks of the season. It was another nail-biter, but beggars can’t be choosers. The Yankees beat the Dodgers 6-4 in the first game of Wednesday’s doubleheader.

(Presswire)

Demonstrate My Lyle
After Mark Teixeira returned, Lyle Overbay received a total on 15 plate appearances across two weeks of games. He was relegated to pinch-hitting duty and spot starts in right field, which is not an easy thing to do. Playing irregularly is hard, especially if you’re used to playing full-time. It takes an adjustment, but Lyle does have experience in the role after spending the last several years as a part-timer in the NL.

With Teixeira back on the DL, Overbay is again the regular first baseman and he showed no rust on Wednesday. He doubled in a run in Sunday’s win and then doubled in the first two runs of this game. Thomas Neal and Ichiro Suzuki started the third inning with back-to-back singles, then were moved up on David Adams‘ sacrifice bunt. Hyun-Jin Ryu caught way too much of the plate with a fastball in a 1-1 count, a pitch Overbay clobbered to dead center for the two-run-scoring hit. Andre Ethier is a DH miscast as a center fielder, but even Brett Gardner wasn’t catching that one. It was crushed. Lyle has picked up right where he left off before Teixeira’s return.

(Mike Stobe/Getty)

Old Friend
Six years ago, Hiroki Kuroda came over from Japan as a free agent and started his MLB career with the Dodgers. He spent four years in Los Angeles, and on Wednesday he faced them as an opponent for the first time. He didn’t give his former mates any preferential treatment though; Kuroda held the Dodgers scoreless through six innings before allowing his only two runs in the seventh.

For all intents and purposes, it was a typical Kuroda start. He wiggled around some base-runners early before settling into a groove in the middle innings, then things got a bit hairy late. Two runs on eight hits and one walk in 6.2 innings isn’t the most aesthetically pleasing line, but it is plenty good enough to win. To be fair, Kuroda did get lucky when Ethier’s soft line drive wound up in his glove in the third inning, allowing them to double Adrian Gonzalez off third base with men on second and third with no outs. He escaped the inning one batter later with a ground ball. They said it’s better to be lucky that good, and Kuroda was both on Wednesday afternoon.

Two Errors, Three Insurance Runs
It takes a special kind of bad to make two errors on one play, and thankfully Ronald Belisario is that kind of bad. With the washed up Vernon Wells at the plate with men on first and second in the seventh, the right-hander got cute and let a soft little infield pop-up fall in so he could turn the double play. He didn’t field it cleanly because the ball had a little English, and it scooted backwards through his legs. Belisario then picked it up and threw to second for the force out, which would he would have gotten easily had he had not thrown the ball into center field. Here’s the GIF, courtesy of Mike Petriello:

One error on the intentional drop, another on the throw. Just like that, the Yankees had a big insurance run. Belisario (unintentionally) hit Neal with the next pitch to load the bases, then Ichiro broke things open with a two-run bloop single to left off lefty specialist extraordinaire Paco Rodriguez. He chipped in a solo homer in the sixth as well. Runs are always great, but that three-run seventh inning was a big pick-me-up after the Dodgers scored two runs a half-inning earlier to make it a one-run game. Belisario gets the majority of the credit, but big ups to Ichiro for driving in those two extra runs.

No Easy Wins Allowed
As for the bullpen, Shawn Kelley deserves credit for striking out Nick Punto to end the seventh and clean up Kuroda’s mess. Preston Claiborne faced three batters and allowed three rockets in the eighth. One went for a double, one found Ichiro’s glove for a great catch, then one sailed over the wall for a Hanley Ramirez two-run homer. Probably his worst outing as a big leaguer.

David Robertson replaced Claiborne and promptly walked the first two men he faced, putting the tying run on base and the go-ahead run at the plate. He escaped the jam with an infield pop-up and a routine ground ball. Four (!) of his 14 pitches were strikes. It’s been a long time since Robertson was that wild. Mariano Rivera restored order with a perfect ninth for his 25th save.

(Presswire)

Leftovers
The Yankees had a chance to break things open in the fifth, when Chris Stewart (walk) and Gardner (single) reached base to open the inning. Unfortunately, Jayson Nix bunted the runners up and took the bat out of Robinson Cano‘s hands. The team’s best player was intentionally walked, putting the onus on Wells and Neal. The former struck out before the latter grounded out to end the scoring chance. If you don’t trust a guy to hit with two on and no outs, don’t bat him second.

Ichiro went 3-fot-4 at the plate and also made a very nice jumping catch on the warning track to rob Gonzalez of a surefire RBI double in the eighth. It wasn’t close to a homer, but there was a man on second and no outs in the inning. That was the only out Claiborne recorded. No other Yankee had multiple hits, and in fact Gardner, Nix, Cano, Neal, and Overbay were the only other guys with hits at all. Stewart drew the walk and that was it for the offense.

Yasiel Puig has been the talk of baseball for a few weeks now and it was obvious he was pretty amped up in his New York debut. He got thrown out at second base trying to stretch a single into a double in the first, then in the second he tried to throw Neal out at first base on a base hit to right. The throw was over Gonzalez’s head and went all the way to the backstop. He’s a bit excitable, I’d say.

Box Score, WPA Graph & Standings
MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs some nerdy stats, and ESPN the updated standings.

Source: FanGraphs

Up Next
Let’s play two? Like it or not, they will. These same two teams will give it a go at 7pm ET tonight in the nightcap of this doubleheader. Phil Hughes and Chris Capuano is your pitching matchup. See you then.