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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.

With the Royals starting left-hander Will Smith on Wednesday, Joe Girardi has shifted Mark Texieira into the No. 3 spot in the order.

"Well, you look at what Mark has done as a right-handed hitter, he has been outstanding," Joe Girardi said. "He has done a lot of damage here the three years that we have had him so I just put him there."

This year, Teixeira is hitting .224 with two homers and six RBIs as a righty. As a lefty, he is at .231 with three homers and 14 RBIs. In his career, Teixiera is a .302 hitter as a righty and a .270 batter as lefty.

Since taking the weekend off to rest his persistent cough, Teixeira has batted seventh in the first two games back against righties. Teixeira has batted third three other times this season. Last year, he spent nearly the entire season batting third.

Teixeira plans on abandoning his all-fields approach. He would rather sacrifice his average to hit for more power and drive in more runs. He feels he has been putting too many balls in play and wasting at-bats by not driving the ball.

"That [stinks]," Teixeira said.

So it sounds as if he will be swinging for the fences, average be darned.

"Last year, 39 homers and a low average wasn't good enough," Teixeira said. "I think I'd rather hit 39 home runs than 20 or 15. I would rather drive in 111 runs than 80 so I'm going to be more aggressive."

Teixeira said his new approach, trying to beat the shift and use the whole field more, "hasn't worked."

As for right-handed starters, Girardi isn't ready to commit to Teixeira remaining in the seventh spot.

"We will make that decision Friday," Girardi said.

The guess here is yes, against righties Teixiera will be back batting seventh. Teixeira says it doesn't matter where he hits.

"I don't think that anyone's Hall of Fame plaque says where he hit in the order," Teixeira said.

That's probably true, but you know where Hank Aaron hit.

"I have no idea where Hank Aaron hit," Teixeira said.

Where would you think?

"Third or fourth," Teixeira said.

Phil Hughes is now 3-1 with a 2.81 ERA over his last four starts. In Tuesday's 3-2 win, he showed off a change up to complement his fastball-curveball combination. He still would liked to have gone longer than just the six innings.

"I would have liked to go deeper into the game," Hughes said.

In his nine starts, Hughes has pitched into the eighth once and the seventh once. He has also given up a homer in each start, becoming the first Yankee ever to do that in his first nine starts of the season.

So Hughes is doing better, but he still has a long ways to go to not just be a No. 4 or 5 starter.

• Alex Rodriguez on the final out of the game in which he fired across the diamond to just nail the speedy Alcides Escobar:

"Woo," A-Rod said, sounding a little like Ric Flair. "Exciting play. Just a great play on everyone's end."

Mark Teixeira had the final stretch to record the out.

"I knew he was going to be hauling down the line," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez went on to credit Teixeira for making sure they just got Escobar.

Programming Note: Wallace Matthews is writing a column on Al B. Al.

• Teixeira, who is still batting seventh, had a nice night with the glove. In the eighth, he may have prevented a run when he caught Mike Moustakas' wicked liner and then stepped on the bag for an inning-ending double play.

"Tex has always been a Gold Glove first baseman," Joe Girardi said.

At the plate, Teixeira was 1-for-3. Batting seventh cost him an extra plate appearance.

• The Yankees' pen combined for three scoreless innings. Girardi used five relievers, culminating with Rafael Soriano. Soriano allowed a runner to get to third before A-Rod and Teixiera's game-ending play. Soriano is 3-for-3 in save opportunities.

"We still believe we have the pieces," Girardi said of his pen.

Soriano made his 400th career appearance. To celebrate, he didn't talk to the media. Maybe he was listening to some Neil Diamond.

• Robinson Cano likes to face Luke Hochevar. He has three homers in 12 career at-bats against him. Cano went deep in the fourth.

• Since the Yankees still can't really hit very well, their games are much shorter. This one was only 2:37. The attendance was announced at 37,674.

It is the opinion of the Yankees manager that too much of the blame for the Yankees offensive struggles, and the poor start they have caused, has fallen on Mark Teixeira and his .226 batting average, five HRs and 20 RBI.

"It seems like he’s been the focus of all this attention for the last two weeks,'' Joe Girardi said. "I’m not really sure why he’s been the only focus but he has been. I mean, there’s a lot of other guys who are struggling in those situations, some worse than he is. "If the other guys were hitting, he probably wouldn’t be a focus.''

Agree? Disagree? Don't care anymore? Let us know.

Alex Rodriguez thought he had a home run in the eighth inning. His teammates did, too. His hitting coach, the managers, the 45,622 in attendance -- they all thought it was gone.

But like it's gone for the Yankees' offense lately, Rodriguez's ball ended up as an out. He put a good jolt into it and drove it well, only to see it land short of the wall in the Yankees' 5-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday.

"Just the way things are right now," Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long said about the offense.

The Yankees' offense has been near-silent for the past week, struggling to score more than one or two runs in a handful of games. Long is preaching to his guys to keep fighting during these difficult times, as the Yankees have scored fewer than four runs in 16 of 41 games.

"As bad as we feel, it's probably not that bad right now," Long said. "It feels tough and there is some frustration and some disappointed guys. Our guys are our guys and we're going to keep throwing them out there and keep trying to put together good ABs."

In the past six games, the Yankees have scored 15 runs, failing to score more than five runs in a single game. Manager Joe Girardi singled out the offense in Sunday's loss, as the team managed just two runs on a homer by Raul Ibanez.

"There are things happening right now we have to overcome," Long said. "We can't say, 'Poor us.' If anything, let's fight against the world, let's go. That's a message I want those players to have and I think that's the best way to go about it."

TEX BACK: First baseman Mark Teixeira pinch-hit in the ninth inning and said he will return to the lineup on Monday night. Teixeira had just the one at-bat in the weekend series as he took time to rest as he battles a bronchial infection.

Teixeira believes the rest helped him, although he's still not 100 percent, and is hopeful he's going to get better. He acknowledged he's going to have to play through some discomfort for the time being, as he still has his cough.

"We're going to keep managing it," Teixeira said. "I'm not really worried about it. I've played a month and a half with it and I'll just hope that time is going to make it better."

Teixeira didn't seem to believe that taking a few more days would help him feel better, as there's no timeline as to when he should be fully recovered.

In his lone at-bat, he reached on an error after smoking a ball down the third-base line. He was pulled after reaching first, as running triggers the breathing issues.

JETER FINE: Shortstop Derek Jeter said he's fine after taking a ball off his hand in the ninth inning. Jay Bruce hit a sharp ball at him that bounced and caught the shortstop as he tried to scoop it. Bruce was credited with a single.

Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira is out of the lineup for the second straight day as he battles bronchitis. The slugger might also miss Sunday's series finale against Cincinnati, according to manager Joe Girardi.

"I talked to Tex yesterday and I said, 'Ya know, Tex, we tried to give you a day off. You've had a day off because of a scheduled day off and you haven't gotten better. I'm going to give you another day and I might give you Sunday and see if we can knock this bronchial problem out,'" Girardi said. "Because physically it has to wear on him and mentally has to wear on him, and I'm just trying something different to get rid of it."

The bronchitis, which Teixeira has been dealing with for more than a month, has zapped him of his power and energy and left him with a bad cough. He said it kicks in when he starts physical activity, as it becomes tough to breathe and he starts coughing.

Teixeira had been taking medicine, but found that it did not work. He has continued to see doctors and specialists and there isn't a definitive answer of when he'll get better or how much longer it is going to take.

"We've tried everything," Teixeira said. "That's why rest is the last effort here. I've taken more medicine than I liked to, so I think we're kind of done with that option. Rest is the final straw."

The first baseman finally had a night off to rest in Friday's 4-0 win. Though Teixeira originally didn't want to be out of the lineup, Girardi made the decision to rest the slugger, who had played in 37 of the team's first 38 games entering Friday.

Teixeira watched Friday's game from the bench, and Girardi said he has not sent him home because the team could need him in an emergency situation. Teixeira said he has not swung the bat over the last two days but could be available to pinch-hit if needed.

Nick Swisher started at first base Friday night and will be there again Saturday, although Girardi said that Eric Chavez could step in at first.

"It's not easy but you have to sometimes take care of yourself and try to get better," Teixeira said of sitting out. "It's a long season and I want to make sure I'm good for the long run."

Teixeira said he's not worried about the bronchitis because all the tests have come back OK. If the rest doesn't do the trick, he's just going to handle it the same way he has over the past month. Teixeira is hitting .228 with five homers and 20 RBIs.

"Then we'll adapt," Teixeira said. "That's the issue. Been fighting it for over a month so I'll be able to do it again."

Andy Pettitte tossed eight shutout innings Friday night, yet he was lucky to pick up a win.

That's because while he was posting zero after zero on the scoreboard, his teammates were doing the exact same thing -- with one exception, a single run pushed across in the bottom of the fourth, when Curtis Granderson scored on a groundout by Alex Rodriguez.

Only after Pettitte had thrown his 115th and final pitch of the night -- an 85 mph fastball that Drew Stubbs grounded to Rodriguez to end the top of the eighth -- did the Yankees put some distance between themselves and the Cincinnati Reds, thanks to a solo homer by Robinson Cano and a two-run shot by Raul Ibanez against a tiring Bronson Arroyo.

Those three insurance runs put the Yankees' bullpen at ease -- instead of bringing closer Rafael Soriano into a one-run game, manager Joe Girardi called upon Boone Logan to mop up a 4-0 victory. But they did nothing to make Pettitte's 24 outs any easier, forcing the 39-year-old to pitch with literally no margin for error.

Pettitte said as much after the game. "You knew that we were struggling, and you knew that we've been struggling," Pettitte said.

Everybody who follows baseball knows it; it's been impossible to ignore. The Yankees entered this game losers of three in a row, dropping them to 20-18 -- in fourth place in the American League East. In those three games, the Yanks' high-powered -- and high-priced -- offense had mustered a grand total of four runs on 13 hits.

The Yankees entered Friday night 3-for-their-last-41 with runners in scoring position. And it only got worse once this game got under way.

In the bottom of the second inning, A-Rod got the ball rolling by smacking a line-drive double. But the next three hitters -- Ibanez, Nick Swisher and Eric Chavez -- failed to nudge him past second base.

The sixth inning was even more painful to watch. The Yankees loaded the bases with no outs, thanks to a Derek Jeter single, a Granderson single and a walk to Cano. But a pair of ground balls, followed by a pop-up, kept the score at 1-0 heading into the seventh.

To be fair, the Yanks should have scored a run on the first grounder -- Reds catcher Ryan Hanigan's foot was clearly an inch or two shy of the plate on the force-out at home. Nevertheless, there were no clutch hits to be found in the frame.

"Some of it’s luck," Girardi said. "The skill part is being able to relax and not go out of who you are. The luck part is hitting it hard and not hitting it at someone."

The Yankees have been neither lucky nor good at the plate in recent days. There are plenty of culprits. The only one you can't blame this time around is Mark Teixeira, who was given Friday night off.

"We gotta understand, this is the game of baseball," Cano said. "Nobody wants to go 0-for-4 or hit a ground ball into a double play with the bases loaded. ... Just keep your head up, forget about that at-bat and go to the next one. If you see men on base, just be positive all the time."

"It’s part of the game," said Ibanez. "Unfortunately it’s just what’s happening right now. We’ve gotta deal with it and make it better. We’re gonna keep working hard to make it better, and I’m sure things will change."

Things need to change in a hurry. The Yankees might not have to deal with a vintage Red Sox team this season. But the Orioles, Rays and Blue Jays look like stiff competition right now, to say nothing about the rest of the AL.

They're called the Bronx Bombers for a reason, aren't they? This team is certainly not built on pitching. After CC Sabathia, there's no guarantees in the rotation -- not even Pettitte, despite his gem Friday night. And the Yanks' top two relievers are on the shelf, one for the entire season.

When asked about the insurance runs in the eighth inning, Girardi said, "You hope that kinda sets the tone for the homestand in a sense, that we get going offensively. We’ll find out tomorrow."

The home runs were nice, no doubt about that.

But a hit with a runner on second or third Saturday? That would be even nicer.

TORONTO -- As if Mark Teixeira and the Yankees don't have enough problems hitting. Teixiera, gasp, compared Kyle Drabek to the man he was traded for ... Roy Halladay.

"That sinker was really working," Teixeira said. "You don't want to say Halladay because Halladay is a special pitcher. Getting the ground balls, I felt like Halladay was out there tonight. He just wasn't getting the ball up in the zone."

The Yankees again were very feeble with their bats. They had just three hits in seven innings off Drabek. Two of them came in the sixth, when Robinson Cano hit a double and Teixeira drove him in with a two out-single. Besides that hit, the Yankees were 0-for-7 with RISP.

By the way, Teixeira's voice sounded worse than ever. He has been sick for a month with an inflamed airway.

While Mark Teixeira continues to struggle, with his batting average at .223 after going 1-for-4 Sunday, manager Joe Girardi said he won't drop the first baseman in the lineup.

"I've talked about that before, I think you can make too much of a certain number of at-bats, you can start moving guys all the time and then guys come to the ball park and they don't know where they're hitting," Girardi said. "He's what, third or fourth on our team in RBIs? I'm going to leave him there."

The first baseman is battling bronchitis, and was coughing and struggling to speak when he met with reporters after the 6-2 loss to the Mariners. He said he's trying to fight through the ailment, although he did not use it as an excuse.

Teixeira said he's frustrated because the prednisone he was prescribed hasn't worked yet, and he would consider going back to the chest specialist if he is not better by the end of the upcoming four-day road trip. He said the medicine was supposed to work within three to four days and it's been five since he started taking the medication.

"We're always battling through things," Teixeira said. "Just try to do the best you can."

In perhaps the biggest moment of Sunday's game, Teixeira struck out with Yankees trailing 4-2 in the eighth and the bases loaded with two outs. He walked back to the dugout to boos.

While Teixeira is fourth on the team in RBIs, among the starters he has the second-worst average and the worst on-base percentage. He has four homers on the year, but said he does not have a lot of power and hopes to hit the ball with more authority.

"Right now I'm just battling and waiting for a hot streak and waiting to get better," Teixeira said. "Hopefully get on a roll."

SHUT DOWN: Entering Sunday's game, the Yankees had been very successful against Kevin Millwood, who was 2-6 with a 5.12 ERA in 13 games against them. That wasn't the case Sunday, though, as Millwood held the Yankees to just three hits over seven innings while giving up one run as he recorded his first win of the year.

Right fielder Nick Swisher said it seemed like Millwood had a different motion than the Yankees had seen, as if the right-hander was tucking and hiding the ball more.

"He did a good job today keeping ball in the zone," Swisher said. "Hit a couple ball hard but just really didn't get anything going off him."

THROWN OUT: Leading off the ninth down 6-2, Swisher doubled into the left-field corner but was thrown out trying to stretch into a triple. While he hinted after the game that he was safe, the right fielder wished he'd played it safer.

"Now that I look back on it I wish I would have stopped but that's just an aggressive mistake," Swisher said. "Watching the replay, ya know, but just a bad mistake on my part and I wish I would have slowed down."

The Yankees may not see a pitcher on a better roll this season than Mariners ace Felix Hernandez, who faces them on Friday.

David Price entered Yankee Stadium on Thursday with a 4-0 mark and 1.55 ERA in his previous four starts, and the Yankees were able to score five runs against him.

They’ll be challenged to do that well against Hernandez, who has an 0.95 ERA and .169 opponents batting average in his last five starts. He allowed one hit in eight innings in his last start against the Twins.

What is Hernandez doing so well?
Hernandez is getting left-handed hitters and right-handed hitters out at a high rate. Lefties are hitting .184 in this stretch against him. Righties are hitting .140.

Hernandez’s fastball ranges from 90 to 94 miles-per-hour and he’s actually lost a mile or two per hour off it, but he keeps it away from hitters’ comfort zones.

Hernandez throws fastballs to the outside part of the plate 62 percent of the time, the second-highest rate in baseball for a starting pitcher. Only 16 percent of his fastballs (about one of every six) are over the middle-third, width-wise, the second lowest rate in the majors.

That limits damage, but it’s his secondary pitch that makes him great.

Hernandez will throw his changeup to both left and right-handed hitters, and though the separation between it and the fastball isn’t great (three to five miles-per-hour), it makes hitters look foolish.

In his last five starts, Hernandez has gotten 35 outs with the changeup and yielded just two hits.

If there’s hope for the Yankees, it’s that the only other right-handed pitcher with more strikeouts against both righties and lefties since 2011 is James Shields, whom the Yankees beat earlier this week.

Who has the best shot at hitting Hernandez?
Two Yankees in particular hit Hernandez well last season-- Robinson Cano and Mark Teixeira.

Cano was 5-for-9 against Hernandez last season after going 1-for-9 against him in 2010. Teixeira was 3-for-6 with two home runs and four walks last season.

Teixeira’s five home runs are the most of anyone against Hernandez. Nick Swisher is second with four.

One decision for the binder could be whether to start Jayson Nix, who went 3-for-3 with three line drive hits in his start against Hernandez last season.

In terms of those who succeed against Hernandez’s best pitches, Yankeemetrician blogleague Katie Sharp notes a pair-- Alex Rodriguez has six hits, including a homer, against changeups this season, and Russell Martin has any many hits against fastballs on the outer-third (six) as he has against all other fastballs he’s seen this season.

King Felix Stat of the Day
Hernandez has made three straight starts at Yankee Stadium in which he’s allowed one run or fewer. The last pitcher with a streak of that many starts allowing that few runs on the road against the Yankees was Joe Coleman, who had four in a row from 1971 to 1973.

In those three starts, Hernandez has allowed a total of one run and 11 hits in 24 innings.

The Yankees are 2-for-43 in two-strike situations against him in those three games.

Eduardo Nunez made two errors at third base in the first two innings of Thursday night's 5-3 victory over the Rays, and afterward manager Joe Girardi indicated the Yankees may have to re-examine Nunez's role as the team's utility player.

"I think we’re gonna have to evaluate it a little bit, how much we move him around in a sense," Girardi said. "Maybe it’s just difficult for him, all the different throws."

Nunez booted a routine ground ball in the first inning, which paved the way for the first Rays run of the game. Then in the second inning, a Nunez throw to second base on a fielder's choice sailed into the outfield, leading to another unearned run.

The errors were Nunez's third and fourth of the season in 14 starts, after committing 20 of them a year ago.

In his defense, Nunez came up from the minor leagues as a shortstop, but has already played five different positions this year alone -- second base, shortstop, third base, left field and right field.

"We’ve basically asked him to play three or four different positions that he had never played before really until he got here," Girardi said. "We’re just gonna have to keep working with him."

Nunez did his best to redeem himself at the plate, with a pair of singles, a walk and two stolen bases. But in the top of the sixth, right after the Yankees scored three runs to take a 5-2 lead, Girardi replaced Nunez at third with Jayson Nix for defensive purposes.

"Obviously, you can see how valuable his bat is, and his speed is," said Girardi. "It’s just been difficult for him, the adjustments."

SPEAKING OF ROUGH STARTS: Mark Teixeira went 0-for-3 with a walk on Thursday night, lowering his batting average for the season to .212, with four home runs and 17 RBIs.

Teixeira visited a chest specialist on Wednesday, and was diagnosed with severely inflamed bronchial airways, which may partly explain his struggles so far this season. Nevertheless, the statistics are a little troubling, considering Teixeira -- a career .280 hitter -- batted a career-low .248 last season.

CLOSING BELL: Rafael Soriano got the save on Thursday night, giving up one run in the ninth inning.

Girardi confirmed after the game that David Robertson was unavailable, after pitching the past two nights. "No, I was not gonna use him," Girardi said.

Soriano had also pitched the past two nights, but he had pitched three days in a row before. Robertson had never done so in his major league career. "Sori’s done it before, that’s the difference," Girardi said. "He has a track record of doing it, and being OK."

Soriano will be unavailable for Friday night's game against the Mariners.

CHAVEZ UPDATE: The Yankees are still waiting to hear back from Major League Baseball on the concussion test reserve infielder Eric Chavez took on Wednesday.

Chavez needs to be cleared by MLB before coming off the seven-day concussion disabled list and returning to action.

Girardi is hoping to get good news on Chavez by Friday night's game. "As soon as he’s cleared, I’ll probably put him in there," Girardi said.

Along with Russell Martin, Curtis Granderson was one of the few Yankees who did anything productive at the plate Saturday night, doubling twice but failing to score both times. The second time was the fault of the heart of the lineup, which, after Granderson had opened the eighth with a double, went down meekly with Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano grounding out and Mark Teixeira striking out to leave him there.

But the first time was no one's fault but that of Granderson, who tried to advance to third on A-Rod's fly out to medium right. He was easily gunned down by Jeff Francoeur, who has a well-known rifle for an arm, and what might have been an important inning for the Yankees got snuffed out before it really began.

Joe Girardi attributed Granderson's baserunning gaffe to the desperation efforts of a struggling offense to make something happen.

"Sometimes when an offense is struggling, you try to get into a situation where you can score,'' Girardi said. "I told him, 'You've got a guy that's as good as anyone throwing out there in right field.' He got behind the ball. You can't be thrown out."

Like most of his teammates, Granderson scooted out of the postgame clubhouse to watch a pay-per-view showing of the Mayweather-Cotto fight and was not available for comment.

Eduardo Nunez has turned into must-see TV whenever he plays the field -- but it's often painful to watch for Yankees fans.

Nunez, who made 20 errors in 112 games last season as a utility infielder, made his third error of 2012 on Tuesday night, and it cost the Yankees dearly.

With runners on first and third and two outs in the top of the sixth inning, the Orioles' Nick Johnson hit a relatively soft line drive to left field, which should have been caught to end the inning with the Yankees trailing only 4-1.

Instead, Nunez misjudged the ball and saw it drop in front of him, allowing both runners to score in what turned out to be a 7-1 Baltimore victory.

"He got a good jump on it, and I think he thought it was gonna go farther than it did," said manager Joe Girardi. "It’s a tough read for a guy who hasn’t been out there a long time."

In fact, it was only Nunez's second career start in left field, after also playing the position in Monday night's 2-1 victory over the O's. With regular left fielder Brett Gardner on the disabled list, it appears Girardi feels comfortable having Nunez learn on the job.

The manager talked before the game about giving Nunez more time in the outfield, even after Gardner returns from the DL. We'll see if that changes after Nunez's miscue on Tuesday night.

"Keep playing hard," said Nunez, when asked what Girardi said to him after the error.

"Sometimes you lose [eye] contact because you haven’t played too many games in left field," Nunez added. "But I think if I can keep practicing like I do, I think I’m gonna be better."

MR .400 (AGAIN): Derek Jeter's batting average climbed back to the .400 mark after his 3-for-5 night on Tuesday.

The Yankees' captain had an infield single in the third inning, a double in the fifth, and a single in the seventh against the Orioles. His average rose from .389 to an even .400. That places him at the top of the American League, and second in all of Major League Baseball, behind only the Dodgers' Matt Kemp (.404).

GRAND POWER: Curtis Granderson accounted for the Yankees' lone run of the night, hitting his ninth home run of the season.

The homer came in the bottom of the first off Brian Matusz, a bomb to right field that hit off the facade at the bottom of the upper deck.

Granderson is tied with the Rangers' Josh Hamilton for the major-league lead in long balls.

ON THE OTHER HAND: The Yankees' No. 4 and No. 5 hitters, Robinson Cano and Mark Teixeira, continue to struggle at the plate.

Cano went 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts on Tuesday night, dropping his batting average to just .255, with one home run and four RBIs.

Teixeira went 0-for-4 as well, lowering his average to .233 on the season, with three home runs and 12 RBIs.

(And the Orioles' starter on Tuesday night, Matusz, had not won a game since June 6, 2011, having lost his prior 12 decisions.)

The guy batting in front of Cano and Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, hasn't been much better -- A-Rod is currently at .256, with four home runs and 11 RBIs.

"We just gotta get better," Rodriguez said after Tuesday night's loss. "There’s no question in my mind that all three of us are gonna get better.

"I think that Robby’s gonna end up, when it’s all said and done, going for .300, 25-30 [home runs] and 100 RBIs. He’s just too good. And I think Tex and I will also be very productive."

BIG DEBUT: Right-hander D.J. Mitchell made his major-league debut for the Yankees on Tuesday night, pitching the ninth inning.

Mitchell pitched a scoreless frame, giving up a pair of singles, with one strikeout.

The 24-year-old righty was drafted by the Yankees in the 10th round in 2008 out of Clemson. Last season he went 13-9 with a 3.18 ERA in 28 appearances (24 starts) for Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre. He was 2-1 with a 3.13 ERA in four Triple-A starts this season, before being called up on Sunday.

Recap | Box score | Photos

What it means: If this is how the Red Sox celebrate the 100th birthday of Fenway Park, I can't wait for the 200th birthday. The park, the Boston bullpen and the relentless Yankees lineup combined for an insane football-like game in which the home team took a 9-0 lead after five innings, only to surrender the next 15 runs to suffer a crushing defeat.

And this wasn't even the Red Sox's worst loss of the week; they got crushed 18-3 by the Texas Rangers earlier in the week. So there's some progress.

Pair of sevens: The Yankees rolled a couple of naturals in the seventh and eighth innings, putting up seven in each frame to drive a stake through the heart of Red Sox Nation for the second straight day.

Lucky seventh: Actually, not lucky, but good, as the Yankees took advantage of Bobby Valentine's hapless decision to pull starter Felix Doubront with a 9-1 lead after six innings and 99 pitches. New York scored seven runs off relievers Vicente Padilla and Matt Albers. Nick Swisher's grand slam made it 9-5, and Mark Teixeira's three-run shot, his second HR of the game, closed the gap to 9-8.

The inning took 29 minutes and featured six Yankees hits and showed you why the Yankees won 97 games last year. No matter how hopeless the game looks, they just refuse to go quietly.

Epic eighth: The Yankees' seven-run explosion, highlighted by a trio of two-run doubles by Swisher, Teixeira and Russell Martin, busted open the game and turned it into a rout.

Everything Valentine tried blew up in his face; his designated closer, Alfredo Aceves, not only couldn't safeguard a 9-8 lead, he couldn't even get an out. Aceves faced seven batters, walked four of them (two intentionally) and allowed three hits, including the doubles to Swisher and Teixeira. It got so bad, Valentine could have used bodyguards to make his pitching changes, or at least a disguise.

Unsteady Freddy: Freddy Garcia picked the worst possible time to have his shortest outing with the Yankees, with his rotation spot on thin ice to begin with and Andy Pettitte moving closer to a return. He got no help from his manager, who had him pitch to David Ortiz (5-for-10, two doubles and a HR off Garcia last year) in the first inning, resulting in an RBI double. But Garcia was fooling no one on this day, getting just five outs while allowing five runs on seven hits, all of them hit hard. If not for the dearth of starting pitching with Michael Pineda on the DL, you'd have to believe this would have been Freddy's Yankees swan song.

Coming up: Ian O'Connor has a column about everyone's favorite quirky former Mets manager. No, not Casey Stengel or Wes Westrum, but Valentine. Andrew Marchand will feed the blog, and I will be scouring Roget's Thesaurus for the proper adjectives to describe Saturday's miraculous comeback.

What's next: Forecast calls for heavy rain all day Sunday, but since weather forecasting is a notoriously inexact science, let's assume the game will be played as scheduled at 8:05 p.m., with CC Sabathia (1-0, 5.59) facing RHP Daniel Bard (0-2, 4.63). Andrew, Ian and I will be all over it, as usual.

Question of the night: Is this the greatest Yankees comeback you've ever witnessed? If not, what was?

Forgetting a basic baseball fundamental led to Eduardo Nunez's first-inning error on Thursday.

On a hard-hit ball to his right, Nunez fielded the ball cleanly and had plenty of time to throw to first, but instead fired wide and dragged Mark Teixeira off the base, resulting in an error. The Twins went on to score four runs in the inning, and Nunez slammed his glove in frustration over his second error of the season when he returned to the dugout.

"I look at that. You want to call it mental, you want to call it physical, the bottom line is he didn't move his feet, that's why he made the error," manager Joe Girardi said. "Talked to him about moving his feet, he threw every ball chest-high after that."

While this is only Nunez's second error, both have cost the Yankees runs in the first inning. His first error came on April 7 against Tampa Bay, and resulted in the Rays taking an early lead against the Yankees in Hiroki Kuroda's's debut. Nunez did have a successful night at the plate, going 1-for-3 with a run scored, a walk and a stolen base.

Girardi did not seem concerned about Nunez, who had 20 errors last season.

"Every time he moves around, it's a different throw for him, and he's a young kid. He's not a guy that's been at this for 10 years and is a utility guy. This is a guy who was an everyday shortstop, asked to be a utility guy, and playing an important role for us," Girardi said. "It's the concentration of remembering to move your feet and remembering where you are and what type of throw you have to make. I really believe he'll continue to get better at it. Last year, we saw some errors early on and then he kind of settled down when he played more. It was his first day at second base. After that, he was pretty good."

TEX ON THE BOARD: Mark Teixeira snapped a 45 at-bat home run drought with a first-inning two-run homer to right field. Teixeira now has five RBIs on the year, and has raised his average to .286 after a slow start.

"I've seen him swing the bat and swing it well," Girardi said. "Maybe the day off helped him (on Tuesday). He was kind of run down. He was fighting it and Tex is a guy that expects himself to play every day and is very professional about it and there's no excuses -- unless he can't walk, he's going to try to play. I think he just got his energy back and that's what we're seeing."

MARTIN SCUFFLING: After going 0-for-3 on Thursday, catcher Russell Martin is batting .133 with just four hits in 30 at-bats and one RBI. He also has no extra-base hits, although he owns a .395 on-base percentage. The manager believes the catcher will get on track.

"We had to make a little adjustment, mechanically he was a little off, it might take him a few days to get going but I think you'll see Russell get going," Girardi said. "I think his swing has been better. I know the production hasn't been there but he'll get going."