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Overall, the Yankees are 23-21, so at best you can probably give the team a grade of C, maybe even a D. But let’s look at the individual marks and see who is carrying his end of the $200 million bargain -- and who is not.

After the top of the seventh inning concluded on Sunday, CC Sabathia raised his glove in frustration on the mound and yelled, the anger of squandering a two-run lead boiling over.

At a time when the Yankees' bats have gone quiet, Sabathia left the mound disappointed he couldn't make a pitch and had now put his team behind a run that it never overcame.

"It was definitely frustrating, I felt like I let the team down," Sabathia said. "Knowing these guys are scratching and clawing and this is a great offense, but it's been tough. To be able to have a 2-0 lead in the seventh inning, it's a ballgame we should win."

While Sabathia pitched well over his seven innings, he put all the blame on himself for failing to hold a lead in the Yankees' 5-2 loss to the Reds. Guarding a 2-0 lead with just nine outs to go, Sabathia yielded three runs in the seventh. He fell to 5-2 with a 3.78 ERA on the year.

"I just blew it," Sabathia said. "I didn't make the pitches I needed to."

For the first six innings, Sabathia cruised against the Reds, carrying a no-hitter through four and only allowing three hits.

In the seventh, a pair of misplaced fastballs and what Sabathia described as "overthrowing" led to his undoing. The lefty overthrowing is when he tries to do too much.

Ryan Ludwick led off the frame with a homer to slice the lead to 2-1, and two batters later Ryan Hannigan tied the game by homering on an 0-2 fastball. It marked just the fifth time in his career Sabathia had allowed an 0-2 homer.

With one on and two outs, Sabathia proceeded to walk three batters, losing battles with Drew Stubbs, Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips, the final walk driving in the winning run. The count went to 3-2 against Votto and Phillips before each walked.

"Walking Drew Stubbs really hurt," Sabathia said. "Not making pitches and trying to overthrow and do too much and it's probably the time to back off and collect myself and make a good pitch and get out."

While Sabathia blamed himself, his manager believed the offense was more at fault for Sunday's defeat. The lefty gave up just those three runs and six hits.

"He still only gave up three runs, the bottom line is we didn't score a lot of runs again," Joe Girardi said. "That seems to be what we're struggling with right now, our starting pitching has seemed to be a little better and we're struggling to score runs."

Entering the game, Sabathia had thrived as the Yankees' stopper, going 4-0 when following a loss. For six innings, it looked like he would be that stopper once again.

By the end of the seventh, the team was on its way to its fifth loss in six games.

"It's 2-0 in the seventh inning. That should be good enough to win a ballgame, especially with I felt like I was pitching pretty good up to that point," Sabathia said.

The Yanks, losers of four of five, turn to one of the few constants in their world to right the ship -- CC Sabathia.

Sabathia will take the ball on Sunday afternoon against righty Johnny Cueto in an enticing matchup.

Sabathia is 5-0 with a 3.77 ERA, and Cueto is 4-1 with a 1.89 ERA.

While most of the Yankees' starters haven't performed any near where Joe Girardi's expectations are (the inconsistencies of Phil Hughes, Ivan Nova and Hiroki Kuroda come to mind), Sabathia has been a rock.

He's lost just once in his last 10 decisions. That defeat came in his last start -- last Tuesday in Baltimore.

Based on what Sabathia's done so far against the Reds, he should be able to bounce back with a win on Sunday afternoon.

In 11 career starts against Cincinnati, he's 4-1 with a 2.33 ERA.

Sabathia's also had plenty of success in daytime starts. Since signing with the Yanks in 2009, the big lefty is 21-7 with a 3.08 ERA. He trails Detroit's Justin Verlander (26) and Philadelphia's Roy Halladay (23) in day-time wins over that span.

UP NOW: Matt Ehalt takes a look at the Yanks' failed comeback on Saturday and has an item on Alex Rodriguez's struggles. I wrote about Ivan Nova's frustration following a 12-strikeout performance.

ON DECK: Andrew Marchand and Ehalt will be in the Bronx later this morning to provide the latest news coming out of the Yankees clubhouse.

IN THE HOLE: The Yanks wrap up their three-game series against the Reds on Sunday afternoon as Sabathia faces Cueto.

QUESTION OF THE DAY? We know Sabathia will pitch well. Do the Yankees have enough pitching around Sabathia to contend?

Sabathia, What to Watch For
There is no pitcher happier to see the Orioles and Camden Yards than CC Sabathia, who is 16-2 in his career versus the O's and 10-1 at Camden Yards.

His .889 winning percentage is the best all-time against the Orioles since the team moved to Baltimore in 1954 (min. 20 starts) and his 10-1 record at Camden Yards is second only to Jon Lester (7-0).

Sabathia is finally starting to show why he is the staff ace, going eight innings in each of his last four starts, and not allowing more than two runs in each of his last three outings as well. The last Yankee to have five straight starts of eight-plus innings was David Cone in 1998.

However, Sabathia struggled in his lone start versus Baltimore this season, allowing four runs in six innings on April 11. He had trouble putting away the Orioles, who were 4-for-14 (.286) in two-strike counts. In his other six starts, he has allowed just a .170 batting average with two strikes.

Robert Andino has had the most success of any of the current Orioles against Sabathia, with a .389 batting average and .611 slugging percentage in 18 at-bats. Twelve of the 15 balls he has put into play against Sabathia have been flyballs or line drives, resulting in six of his seven hits versus the lefty.

Chen, What to Watch For
The 26-year-old Taiwanese rookie Wei-Yin Chen has been a pleasant surprise for the Orioles this season, having not allowed more than three earned runs in each of his first six starts. The last Baltimore pitcher to begin his major-league career with a longer such streak was Rick Krivda in 1995 (eight starts).

The Yankees tagged him for four runs (two earned) in 5⅔ innings in his MLB debut on April 10, as Derek Jeter greeted him with a leadoff home run and a three-run outburst by the Bronx Bombers in the sixth inning chased him from the game.

Chen threw nearly 40 percent of his pitches up in the zone or above and had success when locating the ball there. He held the Yankees to just one hit in six at-bats ending in pitches to that area and recorded three of his six strikeouts on those pitches.

However, the Yankees in that game were able to take advantage of his season-long struggles with his slider. They swung at nine of the 17 sliders Chen threw, putting the ball in play three times and recording hits on each of those swings. For the season, opponents are batting .393 and slugging .679 in at-bats ending with Chen's slider.

Jeter Meter
Jeter's quest to hit .400 has slowed in the past week. He is hitting just .241 (7-29) since May 8, lowering his average 30 points over those seven games from .397 to .367 entering Tuesday.

During that stretch, 22 of his 26 balls in play have been grounders (85 percent) and he has hit into four double plays in his last two games, after doing so just once in his first 33 games. Jeter now leads the majors with a groundball rate of 66.9 percent.

Jeter hasn’t even been able to sustain his trademark success against lefties this past week, going hitless in five plate appearances against the two southpaws he has faced since May 8 -- David Price and Dana Eveland.

Jeter has also struggled to make solid contact on pitches located on the outer third of the plate this past week. He has zero hits in nine at-bats on pitches away over his last seven games and has hit foul balls on nearly half of his swings against those pitches.

Nick Swisher frankly wasn't concerned the Yankees lost Sunday's game to the Mariners. The final score took a backseat to the return of Andy Pettitte.

"I know we lost today and that's what people are going to focus on, but I could really care less. We got our boy back," Swisher said. "I'm really excited to see what this team is about to do because we're getting all the guys back. ... We've dealt with some injuries and we're starting to get guys back.

"To see Pett back out there, it was great, felt like old times."

Pettitte, 39, made his first start since he came out of retirement, and pitched in the majors for the first time since Oct. 18, 2010, in the ALCS.

"He did a great job. He did exactly what we hoped he would do," shortstop Derek Jeter said. "They hit a couple home runs, but other than that he pitched well and threw strikes. Got out of a couple jams. I thought he did a great job."

There was a buzz at Yankee Stadium all day and the fans loudly applauded Pettitte any time he was announced or shown before the game. He even had his name chanted in the roll call from the bleacher creatures in the first inning, something pitchers usually don't receive.

When he departed the game in the seventh, Pettitte received a standing ovation despite trailing 4-1. The lefty waved to the fans before he ducked into the dugout, his night over after tossing 94 pitches over 6 1/3 innings. He yielded seven hits and struck out tow.

"It was awesome," fellow starter CC Sabathia said of the reception Pettitte received. "That's what we expected. He's a legend here. He deserved it."

In the top of the first, Jeter approached Pettitte and told him to pretend he was facing Luis Sojo and Mickey Rivers on Old Timer's Day. The Captain wanted to help ease Pettitte's nerves, as he assumed the lefty would be a little nervous about his first start in 19 months.

Jeter and his teammates agreed that Pettitte pitched as if he had never left the team. The lefty is slated to return to the hill Friday against Cincinnati.

"It was good to be able to see him back out there, pitching well," Sabathia said. "He had velocity on all his pitches, looking forward to seeing him get better."

As much as the Yankees are excited to have Pettitte back in the fold for his pitching abilities, they're also excited to have his veteran presence back in the fold.

"He's a leader, an emotional leader, leads by example," Swisher said. "He's a good human being, a good father. He's a great guy to be around."

Chris Stewart will again be behind the plate with CC Sabathia on the mound Thursday night.

It's the fifth consecutive time that the Yankees' ace has been paired with the team's backup catcher -- but manager Joe Girardi insists that Stewart is not Sabathia's "personal catcher."

"It’s just worked out (that way)," Girardi said before Thursday's game against the Rays. "A lot of the starts that I’ve chose to play Chris have been with CC, and have been against left-handers, because if you look at Chris’ track record, the success has been more against left-handers."

Lefty David Price starts for Tampa Bay on Thursday.

Still, there's no denying that the Sabathia-Stewart combination has been a very successful one. Sabathia has own each of his past four starts, going at least 7 1/3 innings each time, including eight innings in each of the past three outings.

In his first two starts of the season, Sabathia went six innings each time, giving up a combined nine runs.

"Russell (Wilson) is our No. 1 catcher," Girardi said. "If the playoffs were today, I’d probably send Russell in there with CC. ... I believe Russell’s gonna do a good job with him as well."

It appears David Robertson won't get a chance to redeem himself on Thursday, one day after blowing his first save since taking over the closer role for the injured Mariano Rivera.

"I need our guys to play catch and see how they feel," said Yankees manager Joe Girardi, three hours before Thursday night's game against the Rays. "For me, he’s doubtful. But I’ll talk to him after he goes out there today."

The reason is not because Robertson gave up four runs in 2/3 of an inning on Wednesday. The reason is, Robertson has pitched two days in a row -- 25 pitches on Tuesday, 19 more on Wednesday. He has never pitched three days in a row in his major league career.

Girardi also said he has not lost any confidence in Robertson, despite the blown save. "I don’t have any question in my mind that he’s gonna bounce back," Girardi said. "He’s had to bounce back before, and he’s done it, and I’ve seen it, and I’ve seen bouts when he’s went through struggles for a couple days and he’s gotten back up and done a wonderful job for us."

As for who would close for the Yankees on Thursday night, if need be, Rafael Soriano is the most likely candidate -- even though he has throw the past two nights as well, 26 pitches on Tuesday and 13 on Wednesday.

"Sori has worked more in this role during his career, in a sense," Girardi said. "So I’ll check to see how he feels."

With CC Sabathia on the mound for the Yankees, a closer may not be necessary -- Sabathia has gone eight innings deep in each of his past three starts (all wins), and is certainly capable of going the distance.

Sabathia Matchups to Watch
CC Sabathia has made seven regular-season starts at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, with a 4.68 ERA.

For those who think the Texas heat may be a contributing factor, there could be something to that. Baseball-Reference.com has a tool that allows you to sort performance by weather. It showed that in every start Sabathia has made there, the game-time temperature was at least 80 degrees.

That won’t be the case tonight. Weather.com has a forecast of 71 degrees at game time in Arlington, dropping into the mid-60s as the game goes on.

As a Yankee, Sabathia is 22-7 with a 2.66 ERA when pitching outside (or with a dome roof open) on the road and the temperature is between 60 and 75 degrees. He's 11-9 with a 4.35 ERA in his other road starts.

Sabathia will have a tough time with the Rangers lineup, which is hitting over .300 this season. Though Josh Hamilton, Mike Napoli and Michael Young may pose the biggest threats, one player not to be overlooked is Elvis Andrus.

Andrus is 7-for-18 against Sabathia, combining regular season and postseason. Also of note is that despite managing only a .230 batting average, Andrus is hitting the ball hard.

One of our video-tracking groups charts “hard-hit balls,” an imperfect measurement based on observation, but one that can reveal things nonetheless.

Andrus has had 31 percent of his at-bats end with a hard-hit ball, the fifth-best rate in the majors in 2012. That holds up if you look only at balls where Andrus made contact. His 38 percent “hard-hit rate” ranks eighth.

Andrus got hits on about three-quarters of his line drives last season. This season, he’s 4-for-10 when hitting a line drive, a small-sample blip that will likely self-correct with time. The Yankees just hope it won’t be against them.

Holland Matchups to Watch
The Yankees have rapped Derek Holland around before, but the Rangers lefty has emerged as one of baseball’s best pitchers.

Holland is a hard-throwing strike-thrower. His fastball velocity ranks up with David Price among the hardest for a lefty starter in the majors.

Holland has allowed nine home runs in 28 innings pitched against the Yankees. He’s allowed three to the 40 Yankees lefties he’s faced in regular-season play. All other left-handed hitters combined have four home runs against him in 384 plate appearances.

Among active pitchers who have thrown at least 25 innings against the Yankees, Holland has the second-higest ERA against them, 9.00. Jeremy Affeldt’s 9.10 is the only one higher.

Battle of the Bullpens
As good as the Yankees' bullpen has been this season, the Rangers' relievers have been just as good, if not better.

The most impressive thing about the Rangers' bullpen might be the strikeout-to-walk ratio. In 38 2/3 innings, Rangers relievers have struck out 36 and walked only three. Alexi Ogando, put back in the bullpen, has 10 strikeouts and no walks in relief this season.

Ogando has thrown 72 percent strikes this season. The only pitcher with a higher strike rate is Ogando’s teammate, Mike Adams, at 75 percent.

Jeter Watch
Derek Jeter has been a major pest against the Rangers over the last six seasons. In that span, he’s hit .369 against them during the regular season.

That’s third-best among all players in that span, trailing two pretty good hitters -- Vladimir Guerrero and Miguel Cabrera, who are each at .373.

Look for another detailed preview from Stats & Information's John Fisher on the Stats & Information blog later today.

The New York Yankees will try to complete a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball (8 pm ET).

Here's a closer look at the key matchups that figure to play a significant role in this contest.

C.C. Sabathia Matchups to Watch
Although Sabathia is 7-9 career against the Red Sox and 3-4 against them at Fenway Park, his individual batter-pitcher matchups aren’t as bad as you think.

Adrian Gonzalez is 5-for-25 against Sabathia and struck out three times against him in their last meeting on August 30.

Dustin Pedroia has an odd history against Sabathia -- a .244 batting average (combining both regular season and postseason)- but he was 7-for-13 against Sabathia last season, albeit with five strikeouts.

David Ortiz is 5-for-30 against Sabathia since homering against him the first time that Sabathia faced him as a Yankee.

Ortiz has hit .346 against left-handed pitching since the start of 2011. That’s a jump of 128 points from what he averaged against lefties from 2008 to 2010.

Sabathia has a 5.59 ERA in three starts this season. His April ERA is 4.16, his highest for any calendar month from April to September (his September ERA of 2.77 is his lowest).

Sabathia has averaged 91.5 miles-per-hour with his fastball in 2012. That’s down a full mile-per-hour from what he averaged in both 2010 and 2011.

Hitters have swung and missed at the pitch at about a rate of one for every eight pitches thrown. In April, 2011, he got misses on about one of every six swings versus his heater.

With his 57th pitch on Sunday, Sabathia will have thrown 20,000 pitches (combining regular season and postseason) since 2007, the most of anyone in the majors.

Daniel Bard Matchups to Watch
Bard has the number of two Yankees hitters. Robinson Cano is 0-for-8 against him. Derek Jeter is 0-for-7. The only active pitcher whom Jeter has a worse-0-for against is Casey Janssen, against whom Jeter is 0-for-12. The only one for Cano is Gio Gonzalez (0-for-9).

Mark Teixeira has four home runs in 15 at-bats against Bard. The last three of those home runs came off fastballs recorded at 97 miles-per-hour or faster by Pitch F/X calculations. The only pitchers against whom he has more home runs are Bruce Chen (6) and Felix Hernandez (5).

Bard’s fastball velocity has come down from the 97 miles-per-hour he averaged as a reliever to about 94 miles-per-hour. He threw the fastball for strikes 75 percent of the time in his first start of the season, but that dropped to 57 percent in his last start against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Bard has a 4-4 record and a 1.69 at Fenway Park. He’s 1-11 elsewhere, with a 4.19 ERA.

It’s Not How You Start. It’s How You Finish
There is a sharp statistical contrast between the performance of the Yankees and Red Sox bullpens this season, evident Saturday when Red Sox relievers combined to yield 14 runs.

The chart on the right shows the difference between the two. Red Sox relievers rank last in the majors in all three categories listed. Yankees relievers rank second in ERA, fourth in home runs per nine innings, and ninth in opponents batting average.

Elias Sports Bureau Stat of the Game
A Yankees win would make them 459-459-4 against the Red Sox in Fenway Park. They have outscored the Red Sox there, 4,687-4,481

HOME SWEET HOME
The Yankees opened their home schedule last weekend with a 5-0 blanking of the Angels on Friday afternoon. It was the largest shutout in a home opener for the Yankees since an 8-0 win over the Twins in 1988.

Hiroki Kuroda shined in his Yankee Stadium debut, tossing eight scoreless innings to earn his first win in pinstripes.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Kuroda became the first Yankee pitcher to throw at least eight shutout innings in his home debut since Jimmy Key in 1993, and the first with eight scoreless innings in a Yankees home opener since Rick Rhoden in 1988.

PHELPS EARNS HIS PINSTRIPES
The Yankees four-game win streak came to an end on Saturday afternoon with a 7-1 loss to the Angels. Phil Hughes was once again inefficient in his second start of the season, needing 84 pitches to get 10 outs while allowing six runs. Hughes is averaging 23 pitches per inning, the highest rate in MLB.

David Phelps was the lone star for the Yankees in the loss, giving up just one run on one hit in 5⅓ innings of relief. That last Yankee to pitch that many innings in relief and allow just one hit was Steve Shields in 1988 against the Red Sox.

Vernon Wells' home run in the fifth inning was the only hit off Phelps. Prior to that hit, Phelps had retired the first 13 batters he faced in his career. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the longest such streak for any Yankee to start his career in the Expansion Era (since 1961).

NOBODY BEATS NOVA
The bats woke up on Sunday night as the Yankees routed the Angels 11-5. Ivan Nova got the win despite a mediocre line of four runs allowed in six innings. Nova was tough when it counted; he retired all six batters he faced with runners in scoring position.

Nova has now won his last 14 decisions dating to June 2011. Only Roger Clemens, who won 16 straight in 2001, has a longer streak in Yankees history.

During this stretch, Nova has a 3.35 ERA and the Yankees have averaged more than eight runs of support while he's on the mound.

TWINS TAKE THE BRONX
The Twins came to town on Monday night and pulled off a rare feat – beating the Yankees. Entering the game, the Yankees had won 51 of 69 regular season games vs the Twins since Ron Gardenhire's first season as Twins manager in 2002, which is by far the Yankees best record versus any AL team in that span.

The Yankees scored two runs in their first two at-bats of the game – thanks to back-to-back home runs by Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson – but scored just one more run in their final 33 at-bats. It was the sixth time in franchise history the Yankees started a game with consecutive dingers and the first time since September 23, 2005 versus Toronto.

SABATHIA SETTLES DOWN
The Yankees won the second game of the Twins series, 8-3, backed by a quality start from CC Sabathia. Sabathia allowed three runs and four hits in the first three innings, and then didn’t allow another hit or run the rest of the game. He held righties to just three hits in 20 at-bats (.150) in the game, after they had tagged him for a .366 average (15-41) in his first two starts.

Chris Stewart was the unlikely hero with a two-run single in the third inning and another run-scoring single in the seventh inning, giving him a career-high three RBI in the game. That is as many RBI as Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez combined for in the first 11 games of the season.

TWINS TAKE THE BRONX, PART II
From 2002 to 2011, the Twins won five of the 33 regular season games they played at Yankee Stadium. Following the Yankees 6-5 loss on Wednesday, Minnesota has now taken two of its first three games in the Bronx in 2012.

Kuroda struggled for the second time this season, allowing six earned runs and 10 hits and couldn't get out of the fifth inning. This is the first time in his career he has allowed at least six earned runs and double-digit hits in a game.

The Yankees finally got an RBI from their cleanup spot when Cano drove in Jeter in the first inning with a double. The Elias Sports Bureau tells us that the Yankees' 11-game streak to start a season without an RBI from the No. 4 hitter was the longest such streak in franchise history.

RIDICULOUS YANKEEMETRIC OF THE WEEK
In Tuesday's win over the Twins, Brett Gardner became the 10th Yankee in the Live Ball Era to have two doubles and score three runs from the number eight spot in the lineup. But none of the previous nine guys also walked twice like Gardner did – giving Gardner a special entry in the Yankee record books.

After CC Sabathia struggled out of the gate Tuesday against Minnesota, a pep talk from pitching coach Larry Rothschild proved to be a galvanizing message for the lefty.

"Larry came to me after the third and he just said make sure to stay on top of the fastball," Sabathia said after the Yankees won 8-3. "That was all I needed to hear. The command game and [Chris Stewart] called a good game and I got in the flow."

After yielding three runs over the first three innings, Sabathia rebounded and held the final 17 batters he faced hitless as he won for the first time this season. He is now undefeated in his last 10 starts against Minnesota, including the postseason, going 9-0.

"I felt a lot better today," said Sabathia, who threw 7 1/3 innings. "The velocity wasn't quite as good as the first two games, but I think it helped me staying in my delivery and not trying to overthrow and throw the ball where it needed to go."

Sabathia came into the game sporting a 6.75 ERA and the game did not start well for him, as he gave up a home run in the second and later gave up two runs in the third inning on three straight hits. Rothschild said that the southpaw has a tendency to hit his stride around the third inning, and that proved to be true on this night.

Minnesota did not have a hit against Sabathia after the third inning and he struck out five over his final 4 1/3 innings, using his slider and changeup effectively. Sabathia retired 13 straight spanning the third to the sixth before finally walking a batter. He gave up just four hits and struck out seven, leaving the mound to a standing ovation.

"I felt a lot better after the third. My fastball command got a lot better. Larry told me to stay on top, everybody knows I throw everything about my fastball," Sabathia said. "Changeup got a lot better and the curveball was really good tonight too."

Sabathia's 7 1/3 innings were welcome relief for the Yankees as the team had been burning through its bullpen recently. Freddy Garcia and Phil Hughes both had short outings in the last three days that forced the relievers into action early, and Sabathia was able to give most of the bullpen a breather as the team is in the middle of a 13-game stretch with no days off.

"One way or another, he had to give us some distance," manager Joe Girardi said.

The Yankees' rotation had struggled entering Tuesday, tossing just two quality starts in the first 10 games. Sabathia hopes his start could be the start of a good run.

"You always want to be the guy that starts the streak and you don't want to be the guy that messes it up," Sabathia said. "I feel we can get on a roll and we do have a really deep pitching staff, and a really good one, and it's up to us to make pitches and show our potential."

CC Sabathia Matchups to Watch For
Since 2007, CC Sabathia is 7-1 with a 1.37 ERA in nine regular-season starts against the Twins (and 1-0 against them in the postseason).

The combination of Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau are just 13-for-77 against Sabathia, combining the regular season and playoffs. Morneau is 0-for-his-last-11 against Sabathia. Mauer is 1-for-his-last-9.

Mauer’s 13 strikeouts in 34 at-bats are unusual. He doesn’t have more than nine strikeouts against any other pitcher. For his career, he only strikes out about once every nine at-bats.

This will be Sabathia’s first home start of 2012. He’s 26-7 with a 3.08 ERA for his career at the new Yankee Stadium.

The biggest issue for Sabathia this season has been right-handed hitters, who are 15-for-44 against him. This is a carryover from the end of the 2011 regular season, when righties hit .355 against him over his last seven games and crushed his fastball for a .457 batting average.

The heater hasn’t been working the magic with two strikes that it used to. Righties are 3-for-6 with two walks in at-bats ending with it over his first two starts. The one to watch in this game will be Alexi Casilla, who is 9-for-15 against Sabathia.

Francisco Liriano Matchups To Watch
Liriano was very good in spring training, but has a 10.00 ERA in two starts so far this season.

Liriano could run up a good strikeout total today. He’s fanned Alex Rodriguez, Nick Swisher, Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson 37 times in 90 at-bats. Rodriguez is 1-for-13 career against him, albeit with six walks.

Jeter Watch
Let’s zoom in on three things Derek Jeter has been doing so well in the Yankees first 10 games of the season. He’s hitting .378 with 17 hits, three home runs, and seven RBI.

1- He’s going opposite-field: Jeter has 10 hits to right and right-center field in the first 10 games of the season. No other right-handed hitter has more than seven. Jeter is hitting .500 when hitting the ball to that area. Last season, his opposite-field batting average was .278

2- He’s hitting with two strikes: Jeter has seven two-strike hits, including three doubles and a home run. He’s hitting .389 with two strikes, 209 points better than he did last season.

3- He’s hitting with muscle: Jeter has hit 10 fly balls this season and hit them at an average of an estimated 299 feet. Jeter averaged 274 feet on his fly balls last season.

The seven balls that Jeter has hit that haven’t left the ballpark have averaged 282 feet. He averaged 270 on those fly balls in 2011.

CC Sabathia isn't pleased with his first two starts of the year.

"Bad," is how the lefty described them on Monday.

The Yankees ace will look to rebound from those outings when he takes the mound Tuesday night against Minnesota in search of his first win. Sabathia is 0-0 on the year with an uncharacteristic 6.75 ERA.

The southpaw attributes his bad start to a lack of command. He didn't have it when he gave up five runs in six innings on April 6 against Tampa Bay, and he wasn't able to throw enough of his off-speed pitches for strikes when he yielded four runs in six innings to Baltimore on April 11.

"I was getting swings and misses early in the [Baltimore] game, but they started taking those pitches. Then I couldn't get the swings early in the count because I wasn't doing it for strikes," Sabathia said. "That's something I worked on in the bullpen, trying to get off-speed pitches over so we can get some swings early in the count and keep the pitch count low."

Sabathia said his slow start has nothing to do with his mechanics. He said he needs to be more aggressive in the zone and stop trying to be too precise with his pitches. He has given up 16 hits and walked five batters in just 12 innings of work so far.

While he has had problems to start the year, the pitcher is pleased with his arm strength. He said it feels better now than it has in the past for him at this point in the season.

"I think my velocity is a lot better than it was last year or the year before that early in the season," Sabathia said. "Maybe I'm in better shape. I was throwing harder this whole spring than I have in the past. Usually I don't get to 92-93 until it starts warming up a little bit. It's feeling a lot better this year."

Manager Joe Girardi said his ace has notoriously been a slow starter and isn't concerned. Sabathia is just 17-14 with a 4.18 ERA in March and April, which is his highest ERA of any month during the season. Fast forward to May, and Sabathia is 33-18 with a 3.47 ERA.

"When it starts to get warmer, he really likes the heat, he really starts to pitch well," Girardi said.

The Twins could be the perfect remedy for Sabathia's troubles. He's 14-8 against Minnesota in his career with a 2.98 ERA, and is undefeated in his last nine regular season and posteason starts against the Twins. Sabathia gave up just two hits and no runs in seven innings the last time he pitched against Minnesota at Yankee Stadium last April.

"It's always fun to pitch here," Sabathia said of his first home start. "Get a chance to pitch in front of your own crowd. Here at the Stadium, it's always a lot of fun, I'll definitely be excited."

CC Sabathia Matchups to Watch
There are a couple of hitters in the Orioles lineup who give Sabathia trouble. Adam Jones is a .333 career hitter (11-for-33) against him. Nolan Reimold is even better (8-for-20), with a .400 batting average.

Sabathia does have good numbers against Matt Wieters, holding him to 2-for-18 with eight strikeouts, but remember, he had good numbers against the Rays top threat too, only to watch Carlos Pena snap a 1-for-29 funk against him with a grand slam.

Wieters is hitless in his last eight at-bats against Sabathia.

Sabathia is 16-2 with a 2.74 ERA in his career against the Orioles, 11-2 with the Yankees. He was 2-0 against them last season with a 16-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

The Yankees have a history of pitchers to put up those sorts of numbers against the Orioles franchise. Back when the team was known as the St. Louis Browns, Yankee star Spud Chandler posted a 16-2 record against them for his career.

Jake Arrieta matchups to watch
Arrieta is one of those pesky pitchers who beat the Yankees in his major-league debut, doing so in 2010. He went 2-0 against them that year, but was 0-1 in three starts against them last season. In 29⅓ innings against the Yankees, spanning five appearances, he’s allowed only one home run.

Arrieta pitched seven innings of scoreless, two-hit ball in the Orioles Opening-Day win against the Twins. In that start, Arrieta got nine outs with his breaking pitches (curve and slider), tied for the second-most outs he’s gotten with those pitches in any start in his career.

Nick Swisher is 0-for-13 (with a sacrifice fly) in his career against Arrieta, his worst 0-for against any pitcher.

Happy 32nd birthday, Mark Teixeira
Teixeira is due for a big game on his birthday. A check of Baseball-Reference.com shows that he’s 4-for-22 in six birthday games and has never had more than one hit.

Teixeira is 1-for-10 as a left-handed hitter this season and the heat map above shows the pitches on which he’s made outs.

Pitchers have worked Teixeira on the outer-third of the plate and further away on two-thirds of their pitches this season, preventing him from getting pitches that he can drive.

Jeter Watch
Derek Jeter is closing in on a few round numbers. His next extra-base hit will make him the fifth Yankees player to reach 800 extra-base hits, along with Lou Gehrig (1,190), Babe Ruth (1,189), Mickey Mantle (952), and Joe DiMaggio (881).

Jeter needs three hits for 3,100, two RBI for 1,200, five walks for 1,000, and seven doubles for 500. He may get there sooner rather than later. Jeter is 6-for-10 in his last two games.

Bullpen
The Yankees may have an interesting bullpen scenario, given that both Cory Wade and David Phelps pitched 2⅓ innings yesterday, and both David Robertson and Mariano Rivera have worked in back-to-back games.

Rivera did work on three consecutive days once in the 2011 regular season (April 30, May 1, May 2) and saved each one without allowing a run. Robertson has not done so in either of the last two seasons.

Alex Rodriguez doesn't have an RBI yet. Mark Teixera hasn't hit a homer. Combined, the Yankees' No. 4 and No. 5 hitters are batting .154 in 39 at-bats this season.

A-Rod and Tex are surely going to improve their numbers eventually, but what has been disturbing so far is how similar they look compared to last year's playoffs. In that ALDS against the Tigers, the two sluggers combined to hit .139 in 36 at-bats.

If Raul Ibanez and the Yankees' relievers hadn't bailed him out, A-Rod would have been the main story Tuesday night. He went 0-for-5 and struck out twice. He hit one ball relatively far, but showed only warning-track power. This may be a trend, where age and the lack of PEDs diminish the few extra feet that turn long flyballs into homers.

Rodriguez, 36, has already been knocked down a peg from elite to great, and that is only when he is healthy. He may be headed toward just being a good player. Meanwhile, Teixeira is happy he is not pulling outside pitches with his renewed approach to utilizing the whole field. Still, he knows he needs to drive the ball better.

"I wish I had more hits, but they are going to come," Teixeira said.

They probably will, but you have to wonder if Teixeira and Rodriguez will be able to consistently beat top pitching. That is a playoff requisite.

UP NOW: The Yankees will need a big outing from CC Sabathia on Wednesday night because Rafael Soriano has a nail issue. Mark Simon compares David Phelps to David Robertson.

ON DECK: I will be chatting at 1 p.m. Prior to that, I have a post scheduled on Sabathia's kids' influence on CC's attitude. It will go up at 10:15 a.m. Simon will post his must-read W2W4 (What To Watch For) for tonight's game later this morning.

IN THE HOLE: Sabathia (0-0, 7.50 ERA) faces Jake Arrieta (1-0, 0.00 ERA). The Yankees are off on Thursday. The home opener is on Friday afternoon.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Do you believe in A-Rod and Teixeira in the clutch?