5 Big Things We Learned This Week In Yankees Baseball

Well, hello there everybody. Welcome to This Week In New York Yankees Baseball! It was a see-saw week for the Boys from the Bronx, as Yankees fans found out five big things about their team.

For the record, the Yankees went 3-2 on the week through Friday. After completing the series with Tampa with a 5-1 victory, the Bombers won two out of three from the Red Sox. They then lost the opening game of the series to the Angels on Friday night.

But the real news of the week came from the pitching staff. Ivan Nova will have Tommy John surgery, which should leave them one starter short for the year, and Michael Pineda faces a  suspension for using pine tar, which will leave them short for another ten days.

Apr 23, 2014; Boston, MA, USA; New York Yankees starting pitcher Michael Pineda (35) reacts after being ejected for using a foreign substance during the second inning against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

The Pineda suspension left manager Joe Girardi answering questions about how he could not have seen the pine tar on him before he took the mound. MLB has said they will be addressing the prudence of the pine tar rule after the season.

For now, the bright spot once again was Masahiro Tanaka. Yankees’ fans found out this week how well their new-found ace can handle adversity. After giving up two home runs to the Red Sox, Tanaka settled in and shut them down the rest of the way. And he even refused to dismiss the idea of going undefeated on the year. He did it before in Japan, so in his mind there is no reason not to try and do it again.

But Tananka was not the onlyYankee who showed he could handle adversity.  Yangervis Solarte also showed that he knows a thing or two about bouncing back.Teams have been sending him an assortment of off-speed pitches to counter his hot start. But Solarte has shown patience and a good batting eye to quickly pull himself out of his first mini slump.

So the Yankees finished up the week  searching for consistency. After belting the Red Sox 14-5, they fell to the Angels 13-1. But with Carlos Beltran, Jacoby Ellsbury and Alfonso Soriano swinging hot bats, a winning streak is right around the corner.

And Masahiro Tanaka is still undefeated. How about that!