No one player has been more indicative of the New York Yankees season than 38 year-old starting pitcher Hiroki Kuroda.

After last night’s far-from-stellar performance, the right-hander who was signed in January to a one-year $10 million contract now sits with a 3 – 5 record and a 4.50 ERA.

Much like the New York Yankees themselves, Hiroki Kuroda has been brilliant at times, and horrible at others.  Last night’s five inning, seven earned run performance ranks as one of the “others”.

A look at his season reveals just how irratic the former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher has been.

In his three wins, Kuroda has gone 22 innings (an average of 7.3 innings per start), allowed just 3 earned runs (1.22 ERA), and yielded a combined 21 hits and walks (0.955 WHIP).  Those are numbers that most clubs’ aces only dream of having.  Unfortunately, with the veteran pitcher, the New York Yankees have a real-life “Jekyll and Hyde” on their hands, and the “Hyde” version truly rears his ugly head in Kuroda’s losses.

In his five setbacks, the number two starter has stayed in the game for a total of 26 innings (an average of 5.2 innings per start), allowed 21 earned runs (a whopping 7.27 ERA), and given up a combined 48 hits and walks (1.85 WHIP).  These are statistics that make manager Joe Girardi’s binder tremble on the bench.

While there is still plenty of time left to the season, Hiroki Kuroda certainly can level things out.  Pitching last year for the Dodgers, he was a model of consistency.  His ERA never went above 3.86 or below 2.80 after his second start, and that is why the New York Yankees guaranteed him a spot among their starters prior to setting foot in Yankee stadium.  As a member of a rotation laced with pitchers of unknown expectations, he and CC Sabathia were looked at to provide stability in anchoring the first two spots.

Little did the Yankees know they would be opening a version of a Robert Louis Stevenson novel, and now they can only hope to find the anecdote before the ugly “Mister Hyde” destroys their best-laid plans.

The first game Ivan Nova got hit on the ankle by a line drive but stayed in and then later left after twisting his ankle.  It is possible he misses a start but is looking more likely that he doesn’t miss a turn.  Clay Rapada left the game with an illness and he should be ok and Raul Ibanez got hit on the elbow but the tests were negative and he is day-to-day.

The key to this series was that the Yankees after winning the first game couldn’t take any offensive momentum.  They also didn’t get a dominant start out of CC Sabathia like they have gotten used too.  Sabathia wasn’t bad but he wasn’t as sharp as he has been and suffered his first loss.  The Yankees offense has been very up and down this season.  I would call it a disappointment to this point.  Alex Rodriguez hasn’t really produced, Robinson Cano has just started to produce and Mark Teixeira has been really bad.  They haven’t really gotten anything out of Russell Martin and Nick Swisher was hurt for a couple of weeks and they have been without Brett Gardner for about the last month.  The Yankees biggest problem is that they don’t hit with runners in scoring position.  They have the all or nothing philosophy and I don’t think it works.  They look for homeruns and if it doesn’t come they usually lose.  If they are hitting homeruns they usually win.

The Yankees will play a brief two game series in Toronto.  They will then come home to play the Cincinnati Reds in interleague play and then take on the Kansas City Royals in a three game series.  The Yankees have yet to hit their stride and need to start running off a streak and pick up some ground in the very tough American League East.

Take last night’s 5 – 2 loss to the Baltimore Orioles for example.  The Yankees were 1-for-9 with RISP, including 0-for-4 by the aforementioned “big three”.  The Orioles, on the other hand, were 4-for-14.  That represents the difference in the game.

Time and again it has been the same old story for the Bombers, and manager Joe Girardi has implied that this 2012 version of the New York Yankees will score its runs via the long ball.  Perhaps it is time to change things up?

On April 20, 1977 manager Billy Martin, in an effort to “jump start” his struggling offense (the team was averaging 2.6 runs per game in starting that year 2 – 8), set his batting order by pulling names from a hat.  That day the New York Yankees scored 7 runs in a win over the Toronto Blue Jays, and promptly rattled off six consecutive victories en route to a 100 win season and the world championship.

I’m not endorsing the “wisdom” in pulling names from a hat, but I do believe some creative thinking is called for in an attempt to get this year’s team to improve its hitting with runners on base.  Clearly, the current batting order just isn’t cutting it, and it is early enough in the season to turn things around.

Much has been made of Joe Girardi and his religious-like obedience to what the statistics call for in any given situation.  He keeps the information in a binder that sits on the bench next to him for easy reference, and it seems to dictate his every move on the field.

It’s time to burn the binder Joe.  Take that binder and douse it with kerosene, then light it and walk away.  Now is the moment of the season when the New York Yankees can use a “push” offensively and the binder isn’t going to provide it.

What the manager needs to do is step back, find the guys who are hitting with runners on base, and get them into positions in the lineup where their hot hands can best be utilized.

Using last night’s New York Yankees lineup as an example, rather than having Andruw Jones (.231), Jayson Nix (.154), and Chris Stewart (.222) together at the bottom of the order, spread them out so that the opposing pitcher doesn’t have the luxury of knowing that he only needs to worry about the first six hitters.

The team’s hottest hitter this season has been Derek Jeter.  With RISP the team captain is hitting .300, so get him in a natural RBI spot and temporarily move him to third in the lineup.  Curtis Granderson is blessed with both speed and power, and has experience at the top of the order.  While Jeter occupies the “three-hole”, put “Grandy” at leadoff.  Using the same personnel that Girardi did with last night’s New York Yankees lineup, here is one suggestion for kicking the offense into gear:

1. Granderson

2. J. Nix

3. Jeter

4. Cano

5. A. Jones

6. Rodriguez

7. Teixeira

8. Nick Swisher

9. Stewart

I moved Nix to the second spot because he has some speed (career 16-for-21 in stolen bases), and makes contact (has only struck out 3 times in 13 AB).  You’ll also note Andruw Jones in the fifth spot.  He is there because with runners in scoring position his batting average is .333.  It seems that he rises to the occasion with men on.  I have shifted “A-Rod”, Teixeira, and Swisher to the lower half of the order to minimize their anemic production for the time being.

Again, this is merely one suggestion to briefly make better use of the more productive men in the batting order, as well as take some of the pressure off the New York Yankees that are currently struggling.  Certainly, common sense says that hitters like Rodriguez, Teixeira, and Swisher will turn the corner and hit the way they have in better days.  Cano has already started showing signs that he has put a dismal April behind him.

Until then, what could a little “educated experimentation” hurt?  With the lineup presented above, the power is distributed among each third of the New York Yankees order, and you have the better RISP hitters in spots where they can most effectively drive in runs.

The best managers in the game often “think outside the box” and go against conventional wisdom in turning struggling offenses around.  Joe Girardi needs to ditch the precious binder and use some “feel” and imagination before it becomes too late for a New York Yankees rebound.

Many, including YES Network announcers Michael Kay and Ken Singleton, were puzzled when the Yankees entered the bottom of the 9th with a three-run lead and manager Joe Girardi turned the game over to Soriano.  It has been assumed that David Robertson would be given the opportunity to redeem himself following a blown save against the Tampa Bay Rays last Wednesday.  He pitched on Friday, retiring the two batters he faced on six pitches in a non-save situation.  It made sense that “D-Rob” would get his chance to show why he had been selected to close for the New York Yankees in the first place.

As we would find out in the New York Yankees post-game interview with Girardi, Robertson has been dealing with soreness in his rib cage/ oblique area.  The manager admitted he has not wanted to take a chance in aggravating the minor injury, and refused to use the 27 year-old until he has recovered.

In the meantime, Rafael Soriano has made the most of his opportunity.  In this latest appearance, the 32 year-old former Tampa Bay closer threw 15 pitches (12 for strikes) as he retired 3 of the 4 batters he faced.  The only hitter to reach base did so on a dropped pop fly by third baseman Eric Chavez.

In his only other opportunity as closer, Soriano threw 12 pitches (10 for strikes) in recording his first save against the Rays last Thursday.  In that game he did yield one run, but it was the result of a runner reaching base on an infield single.  That runner stole second base, and scored on back-to-back groundouts.

The advantage Rafael Soriano has over David Robertson in the competition for the closer role with the New York Yankees is his experience.  As the ninth inning man for Tampa Bay in 2010, Soriano recorded 45 saves and had a 1.73 ERA – both impressive numbers for any reliever.

As long as he continues throwing the way he has over his last two appearances, it will be difficult for manager Girardi to move Soriano out of the closer role.  In short, the New York Yankees may have stumbled upon the obvious – that Rafael Soriano will end up being exactly what he was signed to be – the successor to the great Mariano Rivera.  That will leave David Robertson as the latest to suffer the fate of Wally Pipp.

Last season Banuelos struggled with his command, leaving some to wonder if the then twenty-one year-old was ready for AAA baseball.  He walked 19 batters in only 34.1 innings with Scranton.  During Spring Training this year, Banuelos didn’t impress much, at least not like he did last year.  Some critics were beginning to wonder if the shine was coming off of Banuelos’ prospect status.

Well, the shine is returning, blindingly so.  Since coming back from the disabled list Banuelos has allowed only 1 earned run over 14.2 innings, spanning 3 starts.  What’s even better is that he has yet to walk a batter since coming off the DL and has struck out 15 batters.  Whatever was bothering the young pitcher now seems to be a thing of the past.

This is good news for the Yankees and their fans.  While I doubt Banuelos will earn a promotion this season, at least not without something catastrophic happening in the Bronx, I do believe he has a very good chance of making the rotation next season out of Spring Training.

Banuelos’ stuff is good, scary good.  His fastball sits in the low 90’s but he can ramp it up to 95-96 at times.  He also throws a curveball around 80 MPH with excellent lateral movement and his changeup deceives hitters with late movement and because his delivery is so similar to that of his fastball.  Perhaps one of his greatest assets is actually something scouts would call a detraction, his height.  Banuelos only stands 5-11, although I am 5-10 and was actually taller than him when I met him last year at a AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre game.  Hitters look at him and don’t see a power fastball in the mid 90’s.  To be honest, watching him pitch is kind of like trying to unlock a mystery.  You just have no idea where that power is coming from.  He only weighs in at around 180 pounds so he is not a big guy at all.  In fact, some autograph seekers before the game confused Banuelos for the batboy which I found very amusing because I don’t think Scranton employs a batboy over the age of twelve.

Banuelos’ delivery is the key to his success.  He has excellent arm extension and features a three-quarter arm delivery.  He repeats his delivery extremely well which allows him to be so consistent with his location and it protects his arm from injury from unnecessary stress.

Ultimately, Banuelos can either be a top of the rotation starter or a very good mid-to-back end starter.  He might get a September call-up but would have to be added to the 40-man roster first.  However, if he keeps pitching like he has over his last three starts he should get a shot at making the Yankee rotation out of Spring Training.

The reason lies in a closer look at the hitting.

To Yankees fans it has seemed that the team has not performed when getting men on base, and the numbers bare it out.  Through today’s game, a 6 – 2 loss to the Seattle Mariners in which the New York Yankees were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, only Derek Jeter, Raul Ibanez, and Andruw Jones were hitting above .300 with men on second or third base.

The heart of the order is also the weakest part of the order when trying to get men across the plate.  Robinson Cano, Alex Rodriguez, and Mark Teixeira are hitting a combined .201 with runners in scoring position, and the men bordering them in the lineup aren’t much better.  Curtis Granderson and Nick Swisher typically switch between hitting 2nd and 6th in the order, and together they are hitting .223 when trying to get base runners home.  If not for the home runs, the New York Yankees might not score any runs at all.

If the Bombers are going to be successful this season, they need Cano, Rodriguez and Teixeira to improve dramatically when the batters in front of them get on base.  All too often the New York Yankees find themselves depending upon the long ball for their production, and while that strategy will produce some high scoring games, it will not provide the consistent results required for them to play into October.  That is already evident in the fact that even though the team is second in home runs, the middle of the order has an anemic .372 slugging percentage with runners in scoring position.

Lately, Robinson Cano seems to have turned a corner from his April hitting woes, but without Teixeira and Rodriguez improving, he will be missing the protection in the lineup necessary for the team to effectively produce runs.

Soon it may be time for New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi to shake things up and put the bats who are productive with runners on base into spots in the lineup where they can help the team win the games they should.

Raul Ibanez and Phil Hughes entered this season with the hopes of rekindling success they once enjoyed, and until recently it looked as though neither would.

The New York Yankees brought Ibanez in with the expectations that he would be the left-handed designated hitter (platooning with Andruw Jones), and occasionally spot start in the outfield to provide days off to the regulars.  It was only 3 years ago that he was selected to the National League all-star team in route to a  34 HR, 93 RBI season with the Philadelphia Phillies – his fourth straight season with at least 90 runs driven in.  Over the past two seasons he saw a drop in his production, culminating in a .245 batting average for 2011 – the outfielder’s lowest since 2000.  With word that in the off-season Ibanez had discovered a flaw in his swing, the New York Yankees signed him to a one-year $1.1 million deal and counted on him to provide valuable power from the left side of the plate.

Throughout spring training and most of April, Raul Ibanez showed little proof that his struggles had ended.  In 60 pre-season AB he hit .150 with just a .333 slugging pct, and he completed the first month of the season with a .241 batting average.  It looked as though the New York Yankees expectations for the 17-year veteran were not going to be met.

In 2010 Phil Hughes was an all-star, going 18 – 8 as a 24 year-old for the Bronx Bombers.  The future seemed bright for the rising star, and he was promised a spot in the starting rotation for 2011.  That guaranteed role as one of the starting five for the New York Yankees soon dissipated into utter disappointment as Hughes showed up to last season’s camp out of shape and with a much documented loss of velocity.  He ended up appearing in only 17 games and lost the spot in the rotation by throwing to a 5.59 ERA.  Many wondered if the once-promising star had become nothing more than a footnote for the Bombers, and their fears seemed warranted as Hughes finished this April 1 – 3 with a 7.88 ERA.

As the age-old anecdote goes “April showers bring May flowers”, so did the troubles of April blossom renewed hope in May for Raul Ibanez and Phil Hughes.

The first 12 games of May have seen Ibanez raise his average to .282 and his slugging percentage to .889.  In fact, over his last 5 games he has hit 4 HR and driven in 9 – both more than he did for all of April.

For Hughes, the results have been similar as in three May starts he is 2 – 1 with a 3.60 ERA – once again establishing himself in the rotation.

Both New York Yankees can attribute their turnaround to one simple thing: patience.  The willingness of manager Joe Girardi, as well as the rest of the New York Yankees organization, to stick with these two athletes, in spite of calls for their demotions, is now paying off.  With Ibanez once again a legitimate threat in the lineup, the New York order appears the deepest it has been since the beginning of the season, and with Hughes’ new-found success, the team seems to have regained confidence in the rotation as a whole.

April is now in the rear-view mirror for the New York Yankees, and their fans can take a valuable lesson from the actions of the club in regards to Phil Hughes and Raul Ibanez.  You have to believe in the reasons these players are on the roster.  They aren’t there by accident.  Hughes and Ibanez are there because they have the talent to help the team succeed, and this month they are proving it.

Last night the binder was exactly right.

In looking at the 6 – 2 win over the Seattle Mariners one can see that virtually everything the manager did worked – a rarity for New York Yankees fans.

First, there was the starting lineup.  The Bombers were going up against the best pitcher that the Mariners have, and one of the best in baseball – Felix Hernandez.  “King Felix” is a right handed flame thrower and former Cy Young Award winner (2010).  The statistics (binder) dictated that a predominantly left-handed lineup would be successful, so like a good soldier, “Binder Joe” put together an order laced with lefties.  This included putting aging, fastball hitting, veteran Raul Ibanez in the left field spot.  The New York Yankees designated hitter was left-hander Eric Chavez (activated prior to the game).

By the seventh inning, Hernandez was knocked out of the game, yielding 11 hits, 2 walks and 4 earned runs in 6 2/3 innings – including a 3-run HR by Ibanez.  Chalk one up for the binder.

But the binder wasn’t done.

On the mound, after starter Hiroki Kuroda’s 7 strong innings, the New York Yankees manager, with binder in hand called on Clay Rapada, Cory Wade, Boone Logan, and David Robertson to close out the game.  Combined they gave up one hit, no walks and no runs while striking out 2.

As I watched D-Rob walk off the mound after the final out, I couldn’t help but think that Joe Girardi used all the right moves during the game.  It was a great night for the binder.

The Yankees were very frustrated by getting swept in Tampa three games to begin the season.  Tampa is a different team at home then they are on the road.  They are a very good, young team with good pitching and they make things happen offensively.  The Yankees pitching is the biggest reason they won this series.  In Tampa they were awful to start the season, their pitching has just recently started to look much better.  They had been struggling through April and the beginning of May.

The other big reason the Yankees won this series is because they were able to have their big hitters step up.  Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez are in the middle of the lineup and they have been struggling.  They each had a hit in the first win and Raul Ibanez had a big homerun.  In the second win Cano had three hits and two RBI and Rodriguez had a couple of hits.

The other reason they won this series is because Dave Robertson was able to save the first game and Soriano the last game.  The middle game of the series was lost when Robertson blew the save and the Rays scored four times in the ninth inning.

The key to the Yankees success starts with their pitching and then they need clutch hitting especially from their stars.  Their bullpen is their strength and that should continue.  They have a good mix of men down there.  The loss of Rivera won’t help but they do have guys that are capable of getting the job done.  The offense is starting to heat up now so I wouldn’t worry about that so much.  The starting pitching is what will make or break the Yankees and right now they are looking pretty good.

With a dazzling performance last night in which he struck out 10, walked one and yielded seven hits against the first place Tampa Bay Rays, CC Sabathia showed why he is the foundation of the rotation.

In baseball terms, the “ace” of the staff is the pitcher the team counts on the most.  He is the guy they most often use when going up against the best the opponent has to offer.  An ace’s role is that of streak-extender – if the team is running off a series of wins, or streak-ender – if the club has hit a rut in its season.  With one good start an ace can turn around an entire week, establishing psychological momentum regardless of the level of an opponent.

CC Sabathia is the New York Yankees undisputed ace.

Over his first three seasons with the Yankees, Sabathia has won 59 games and holds a 3.20 ERA with an impressive 1.18 WHIP.  Even more astounding is the fact that CC Sabathia has started at least 30 games in 11 of his 12 MLB seasons (in 2006 he started 28), and has thrown for more than 230 innings every year since 2007.  For the New York Yankees that means the team can depend on their workhorse every fifth day, and when he takes the mound the bullpen usually gets a much needed day of rest.

With this new season under way, it is time to begin considering CC Sabathia among the greatest New York Yankees starting pitchers.  To give you an idea of where Sabathia rates in Bombers’ history, Yankee great – and member of the Hall of Fame – Whitey Ford had five consecutive seasons with at least 230 innings pitched (Sabathia currently sitting on 5), and he never had three consecutive seasons with at least 19 wins (which the current Yankee ace has, and may be building on).

It will be interesting when all is said and done, to see just where CC Sabathia sits in the storied pantheon of New York Yankees history.

In the meantime, we can all appreciate having an ace that doesn’t require a day off, or feign injury to play a round of golf.  We just have a wonderful southpaw who, without any fanfare, gives us the excellence we demand every fifth day of the week.