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Thursday night certainly was a night for the ages for one of the more prolific hitters in baseball, Curtis Granderson. To this point in the season, Granderson had already hit three home runs, but something was just a little off with his swing. Whatever was wrong with his game before the Yankees’ 7-6 victory over the Twins was certainly righted.

The Yankees needed this win. It was the last game in the homestand before they traveled up to Boston, and it was a chance to split a series with a Twins team that has had little success in the Bronx over the last decade. Phil Hughes gave up four unearned runs in the first, with Eduardo Nunez committing a huge error that extended his pitch count and the inning. With the Yankees down 4-0 right off the bat, Granderson and the offense went to

The Yankees needed to win the game on Tuesday night plain and simple. Now, nothing is truly must win in April, but with their horse on the mound and three games left in the homestand, the Yankees were looking for a strong, deep outing from CC Sabathia and their offense to get going. Things did not look good after the first two and a half innings, but then the team righted the ship.

With the Yankees trailing 3-1 in the third inning of this second game of the four-game set, the offense needed to step up. Sabathia would eventually calm down and pitch a gem, but he finally got that run support he needed to ensure a Yankees victory. The support came from some of the most unlikely of places, as well, the bottom of the order and Sabathia's trusted backstop on the evening, Chris Stewart.

Stewart,

The story of Freddy Garcia's first start of the season in Baltimore may have been control issues and wild pitches, but on Monday night for Garcia, it was about not being able to deliver the knockout blow. Twice in the game he had the Twins on the ropes with two outs in an inning, and twice the Twins offense responded.

In the first inning, Garcia got two outs then it was a Joe Mauer double, Josh Willingham RBI single, Justin Morneau single, followed by a Ryan Doumit RBI single, and just like that, it was 2-0 Twins.

Later in the game, in the fifth inning, with the Yankees now leading 3-2, Garcia once again got two outs, this time with Alexi Casilla stranded at second base and the flood gates opened up again. Jamey Carroll ripped an RBI single followed by another Mauer double, this one driving

Carl Pavano was thoroughly booed by the Yankee Stadium crowd when they announced his name before the game. Although he received a thrashing once again when he walked out from the bullpen, those boos soon turned to cheers as the Yankees offense got to him early. Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson hit back-to-back home runs to start the game, and the Yankees walked out of the first inning with a 3-2 lead.

Then the darndest thing happened: Pavano settled down. He was making his first appearance at Yankee Stadium since April 19, 2009, when he was with the Indians, so early game jitters may have had something to do with his struggles. But once he settled in, he did not let the fact that more than 40,000 Yankee fans had a very long memory.

After the first inning, Pavano pitched six more, allowing

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

David Phelps, a player we have covered on YESNetwork.com quite a bit on our Minor League Monthly program, is making a wonderful impression at the Major League level. Even in the 7-1 drubbing at the hands of the Angels on Saturday afternoon, Phelps appearance was the lone bright spot for the Yankees.

The last couple of months have truly been a whirlwind of emotion for the starter-turned-rookie long reliever. The St. Louis native and former Notre Dame standout as a child, was sought out by Cardinal Dolan at the Welcome Home dinner, and has impressed everyone including his manager in each of his first three outings.

“The situations we put him in, he hasn't been phased and he's throwing strikes, quality strikes,” Girardi said after the loss. "We talk about when you have a young

Opener Over

With the always highly-anticipated Home Opener over and resulting in a Yankees 5-0 victory, it's back to business as usual in the Bronx. The second game of the series between the Yankees and Angels is just that. It's still a very important test for the Bombers, but the team can now settle in and make themselves at home.

Designated Rest

The Yankees have chosen to DH Alex Rodriguez today with left-hander and new Angels ace C.J. Wilson on the mound. The half day for Rodriguez will only help the Yankees in the long run and save his legs for the grind that is the baseball season.

Joe Girardi discussed his decision before the game, stating, “I could have done either one (Jeter or Rodriguez). I decided to go with A-Rod. I believe we'll see a left hander on Tuesday as well,

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

We took a mulligan on the first 21 rounds…

It amazes me when I look down this list of names…

Carl Everett, OF

Robert Eenhoorn, SS

Tate Seefried, 1B

Kirt Ojala, LHP

Richard Lantrip, INF

Sam Militello, RHP

Jalal Leach, OF

Tim Rumer, LHP

Matthew Terrell, OF

Darren Hodges, RHP

Richard Hines, RHP

Ron Frazier, RHP

Jeff Motuzas, C

Bo Siberz, RHP

Michael Smith, RHP

Ricky Ledee, OF

Bryan Faw, RHP

Bob Deller, OF

Brent Gilbert, RHP

Kevin Jordan, 2B

Keith Seiler, LHP

These are the players that the Yankees selected prior to Andy Pettitte in the 1990 MLB June Amateur Draft.  Of course, Carl Everett’s name stands out but he achieved major league success elsewhere.  I always had high hopes for Ricky Ledee, but he didn’t live up to the hype.