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Going up or going down?...

About 20 games into the season and the Yankees are barely closer to first place than they are last place.  Only two games separate the Yankees from the dismal start by the Boston Red Sox but of course the Sox are playing better as of late.  It’s only April so at this point, the standings don’t really mean too much as the superior AL East teams will begin to separate themselves from the pretenders over the course of the next couple of months. 

It was nice to see the Yankees pull off a walk-off win at Yankee Stadium last night against the team that seems to terrorize them in the play-offs in recent years, the Detroit Tigers.  I am really surprised that Justin Verlander holds an 0-2 mark with 4.50 ERA for his career at the new Yankee

By Zachary Finkelstein

Now on his 12^th lap around Major League Baseball’s regular-season track, CC Sabathia has succeeded in securing his fair share of sports-related spoils.  From World Series champ to Cy Young contender, and from perennial All-Star candidate to possible Hall of Famer, the Yankees' No. 1 starter has been called many things during his Major League tenure.

One title that has sometimes eluded him, however, is April ace.

Granted, Sabathia has pitched his best under the brightest lights, as evidenced by his .636 winning percentage during postseason ball. But the southpaw has been sensational during the regular season, too, having tallied 80 more wins than losses with a solid 3.53 ERA entering his Tuesday night start against the Twins. But for some reason, April

Despite the Twins taking the first game of the four-game series last night, the Yanks should be able to get themselves above .500 and stay there for the rest of the long 2012 ride.

We have to like CC boucning back tonight after a less than stellar, workman-like outing at Baltimore last time out.  Gardenhire is going to rest Morneau because his numbers are pretty morbid over the course of time vs. CC, so they'll not have the same punch they had last night.  Plus, the Twins will run Francisco Liriano (average at best) out there,which should have the Yankees lineup feeling pretty good about putting up enough runs to cover CC and the relief staff.

I like Kuroda putting a couple of good showings back to back when he matches up against Jason Marquis on Wednesday. 

The Yankees are riding high from a home opening weekend that included winning a series against a very good Angels team. The Yankees now stand at 5-4 through the first nine games and welcome the Twins into town for a four-game set.

Freddy Garcia is starting the first game of the series after he turned into Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn in Baltimore in his first start. Garcia had five wild pitches after having only four all of the 2011 season. With Andy Pettitte's return to the Bronx looming, Garcia and Hughes certainly have to pitch very well to make their case to stay in the rotation.

“I thought his start the other day was very uncharacteristic of Freddy,” Joe Girardi said in his pregame press conference. “With all of the struggles he had, he really could have

For away games, I prefer to see a Yankees pitcher on the mound for the last out…

Finally, the first win of the year has arrived.  It was a bit delayed in coming, but alas, the victory came with the Yankees’ first game away from Tropicana Field.  Hopefully, the Tampa Bay Rays’ home won’t become a house of horrors for the Yankees this season but it was clear for the first three games of the year that the Rays were the better team.

Still, despite the Yankees’ 0-3 record as they departed Florida (the same mark as the Boston Red Sox at the time of their departure from Detroit), I never felt the sense of doom and despair that usually accompanies losses.  Sometimes, for whatever reason, the momentum of a series goes with one team.  Sure, you

When the Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers in the Division Series last October, the defeat stung CC Sabathia for several weeks. The season ended abruptly, too abruptly for Sabathia. He was hoping the Yankees could power their way to another World Series title. Instead, the Yankees limped home.

Six months later, the Yankees are trying to replace the disappointment of 2011 with a different ending in 2012. Sabathia will throw the Yankees’ first pitch of a new season against the Rays on Friday, which is the tiniest of steps in what he believes can be a championship season. There will be thousands of pitches thrown before the Yankees can prove if they can make another title a reality.

With Sabathia, the Yankees have an ace they can trust. While every Major League team has a No. 1 starter,

Locked and not loaded?...

Worst case scenario seems to be playing out with news that Michael Pineda’s shoulder is cause for concern.  Everybody has wondered who would be the odd man out of the rotation, given the strong spring performances by Freddy Garcia and Phil Hughes. There’s been talk of moving either of those two or Ivan Nova to the bullpen, but all things considered, that’s not an ideal spot for any of the three.  I was hopeful that Yankees could find some trade value in Garcia to move him and make room for the others, given that Andy Pettitte looms on the not-so-distant future.  Yesterday, there were indications that Michael Pineda needed to have a strong performance to nail down his much anticipated spot in the rotation.  I didn’t watch

It’s an idea that CC Sabathia doesn’t like, Joe Girardi would rather not use again, and Yankees fans might groan about.

But would going to a six-man rotation – at least through the first week of the regular season – be beneficial to the Yankees?

Sabathia will pitch on Opening Day in Tampa, and Hiroki Kuroda will likely follow him next Saturday night. Beyond that, well, perhaps not even Joe Girardi knows who will pitch the opening weekend finale at Tropicana Field or the first two games in Baltimore.

There are reports flying everywhere about the state of the rotation. Some have Phil Hughes definitely in the final five, some have Freddy Garcia as a lock, and others have all four candidates making the team with Garcia or Hughes going to the bullpen.

But none of

With the Yankees playing in Fort Myers Thursday night, CC Sabathia stayed behind in Tampa to pitch a day game against Double-A Yankees players at the team's Minor League complex across the street from George M. Steinbrenner Field. The Big Lefty allowed a run on five hits in six innings with one walk and four strikeouts.

Sabathia remains in turn and lined up to pitch the Yankees' 2012 season opener against the Rays on April 6.

Follow Jon Lane on Twitter: @JonLaneNYC