Yankees Pitching Notes: Pineda and Tanaka

A couple of quick tidbits to start your day here. Both are good news and both involve key members of the Yankees starting rotation.

I think we can safely say who won the Michael Pineda/ Jesus Montero trade. One throws strikes. The other throws ice cream sandwiches.

Pineda won the American League player of the week for last week. He is the second Yankee to win the award this season. Mark Teixeira has already won the award.

Pineda struck out 22 batters in 15 innings this past week and posted two wins with a 0.60 ERA. He is positioning himself nicely to be an All-Star this season. Pineda is among the league leaders in strikeouts and wins as well this season. It usually helps when you do something in a game that has only happened 22 times in a game since 1914. That’ll get you an honor.

On to a pitcher coming back from injury. Masahiro Tanaka threw from the flat ground of Tropicana Field yesterday. He also threw 10 pitches at 60 ft to Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild.

Tanaka will throw a 30 pitch bullpen session for the first time since being injured today.

For all the good that Chase Whitley has done, having Tanaka and Pineda at the top of the rotation and healthy could put the Yankees over the top in the division when you add in their dominant bullpen. With Ivan Nova and Chris Capuano coming soon as well, look for the pitching to shoulder the load for the Yankees. And mustaches.

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