This Week In Yankees Baseball, 1,000 For Joe And Boos For Cano

Well hello there everybody. Welcome to This Week In New York Yankees Baseball! After a victory on Sunday in the series finale against the Los Angeles Angels, the Boys from the Bronx struggled overall this week. But the big story was the return of Robinson Cano to Yankee Stadium. More on that in a minute.

The Yanks got another solid start on Sunday from Masahiro Tanaka. For the first time this season, Tanaka battled with his control. He gave up four walks against the Angels in all. But once again, he showed his ability to fight through adversity. Time and time again Tanaka summoned a strike out to erase any damage his walks might have caused. He finished with 11 Ks.

An especially good sign came for the Yankees in the bottom of the seventh, when Mark Teixeira homered to tie the game. Though there are still those who doubt Teixeira´s ability to hit for a high average again, the Gold Glove first baseman is showing that his wrist is not affecting his power. An inning later, Jacoby Ellsbury scored on a wild pitch to provide the Yanks with the winning run.

After an off-day on Monday, Robinson Cano and the Seattle Mariners came to town for the much anticipated return of the former Yankees’ second baseman. It didn´t take long for Yankees fans to show their displeasure for Cano´s take the money and run decision. Cano was greeted with a heavy round of boos. And when CC Sabathia struck out Cano in his first at-bat, there was glee in Yankeeland.

But Sabathia was unable to sustain that effectiveness. CC allowed the Mariners four earned runs and nine hits in five innings. So despite Teixeira´s homer and two hits each from Brett Gardner and Ichiro Suzuki, the Yanks fell 6-3.

After a rain out on Wednesday, the focus was turned to Hiroki Kuroda. Kuroda looked to rebound from a tough outing. The results were somewhat better, but he allowed four runs and seven hits as the Yanks fell to the Mariners again 4-2.

That set up a wild opening game with the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday. Vidal Nuno staked his claim to a starting rotation spot. But Nuno gave up four earned runs in 4.2 innings, including a home run to Desmond Jennings, as the Yanks fell 10-5 in 14 innings.

The game marked a milestone for manager Joe Girardi. He reached his 1,000th game as the Yankees skipper. How about that!