Boston Series Starts Tonight

Big series for the Yankees tonight. And while I don't think they need to sweep like the New York Post does, I do think they need to show more heart than they showed in Boston. Phil Hughes could forever endear himself to Yankees fans if he starts the game tonight by throwing high and inside to Jacoby Ellsbury. The Yankees also need to make a change in the bullpen; if Jose Veras comes trotting out of the bullpen in this series, I'm going to be livid. There is no good reason they haven't released him at this point. There HAS to be someone in the minors who would be better than him. Maybe calling up a longman for the bullpen for this Boston series would be a smart idea (Tomko? Fossum? Aceves?). Or calling up another outfielder (such as Juan Miranda or Shelly Duncan) would be good because the bench is extremely thin.

One of the bigger problems for the Yankees are these injuries to key players that have supposedly lingered for a long time. Peter Abraham goes into it as does Rob Neyer but the Yankees NEED to be better at identifying injuries and not letting them affect how a player performs on the field. While Gary Sheffield would let everyone in the world know about his injuries, he would go out there and find a way to play through them. A-Rod, Wang and Marte all supposedly had injuries that they tried to play through and let linger (nevermind Teixeira who has played with a sore wrist for weeks while his average has dove under the Mendoza line). Now the Yankees are without their third baseman and cleanup hitter, a two-time 19-game winner, their 8th inning (with Marte and Bruney out), and have a first baseman who has been lost at the plate lately (though he has been walking quite a bit).

Regardless of their issues, the Yankees need to find a way to come together and win these games against Boston. With the rainout yesterday, they now have Hughes and Joba going in this series. Both need to come up big for this Yankees team because we have no clue what they'll get once the game goes into the 'pen.