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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.

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."

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."

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.

Starting left fielder Brett Gardner, on the disabled list since April 19 with a right elbow injury, will not be activated off the DL on Thursday, when he becomes eligible.

In fact, Gardner won't perform any baseball activities on Wednesday or Thursday, manager Joe Girardi revealed in his pregame session with reporters this afternoon.

"He still has just a little bit of pain from the bone bruise, so we’re gonna give him two days where he does nothing," Girardi said. "So seeing him Thursday or Friday is not gonna be the case."

Gardner will make the trip to Kansas City, however. The Yankees leave immediately following their game against the Orioles on Wednesday night in the Bronx, to begin a four-game series with the Royals on Thursday.

* The Yankees also continue to be without starting right fielder Nick Swisher, out with a strained left hamstring.

"Swish is progressing fine, but he hasn’t really ran or swung," Girardi said on Wednesday.

The Yankees are still aiming to have Swisher back in the lineup next week, in time for a three-game series with the Rays back in the Bronx, which starts on Tuesday.

Girardi was asked Wednesday whether he has re-considered placing Swisher on the disabled list, considering the Yankees are playing with a short bench right now.

"We’re a little squeezed, but it’s not that I don’t have capable and able players to put out there," Girardi said. "Right now we’re kind of sticking with what we’re doing. We kind of reevaluate it every night, if we feel that we need to make a change.

"Right now it’s not the ideal situation, but we’re comfortable with the way we have it, because we don’t necessarily want to miss Swish for more than six or seven games. And if you put him on the DL, he’s gonna miss 14 basically, and we’re not comfortable doing that."

Swisher is second in the American League in runs batted in so far this season, with 23.

Right fielder Nick Swisher will miss the Baltimore series with a low-grade left hamstring strain, but hoped to be back in action when the Yankees visit Kansas City on Thursday. Manager Joe Girardi, however, said Swisher will probably return in a week.

"It feels pretty good," Swisher said of his hamstring. "Game plan is next three days, just kind of chill, me and [trainer] Stevie [Donahue] get a chance to know each other a little bit better, and plan to get back after it hopefully first game in Kansas City."

Swisher said he first felt something after his first swing in his first at-bat Sunday against Detroit. He said it was like something "jumped at him" and he felt a pinching sensation. He played through his second at-bat as he earned a walk in the third inning, but he was pulled from the game while he was at first as the staff saw him grabbing his leg.

An MRI revealed that he had a low-grade left hamstring strain. It's the second time he's had a hamstring injury, previously being sidelined for a little more than a week in 2007 when he was with Oakland. He's planning on spending much less time out of action this time around.

"We all decided it would be smart to take a couple of days off and get it 100 percent healed up," Swisher said. "I like to take pride in being on the field every day and to get banged up like this is kind of frustrating."

Girardi said Swisher will probably be out a week and the team will shoot for next Tuesday against Tampa Bay, contradicting Swisher's plan to return sooner. The right fielder said he's going to take with Girardi about a game plan, as he doesn't feel he'll need a week to return. Swisher ruled out any chance of landing on the 15-day disabled list because of the injury.

"For some reason I heard people throwing the word DL around. That's not part of my vocabulary. That's not my style," Swisher said. "I pride myself on being on the field every day."

In March, Swisher suffered a groin injury but he does not believe there's any correlation between that and his latest injury. Swisher leads the Yankees with 23 RBIs and has hit six home runs.

"This season is so important to us there in the locker room," Swisher said. "I'd like to get it healed up and get back at it and hopefully it will be sooner than later."

Yankees right fielder Nick Swisher will miss at least a few days with a low-grade strained left hamstring, but he team had not declared that a stint on the disabled list is needed.

Read more on this story here.

The possibility of a five-run comeback died about 15 feet from the right-field wall.

The Yankees brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth against Detroit on Saturday, but could not complete the wild comeback in the ninth as they fell 7-5 to the Tigers. Pinch hitter Eric Chavez flew out to deep right with a runner on and two outs in the ninth.

The Yankees had just three hits entering the ninth inning and trailed 7-2 after Detroit starter Drew Smyly stymied them.

"Overall, great comeback, about 15 feet from tying that game," right fielder Nick Swisher said. "He did a good job for them today but we got to come back tomorrow and win a series."

Trailing 7-2 in the ninth, Swisher led off with a home run, his second of the game, and Curtis Granderson and Raul Ibañez each drove in runs off Detroit closer Jose Valverde to slice the lead to 7-5. While Chavez put a good jolt into the ball, he didn't get enough of it and the Yankees lost for the third time in four games.

It proved to be a classic case of doing too little, too late as the Yankees' offense could get nothing going in the first eight innings. Facing Smyly for the first time, they had just four base runners against him in six-plus innings. After Swisher hit a one-out home run in the first, the Yankees did not record another hit until the seventh inning when Alex Rodriguez singled.

Swisher, who was robbed of a hit in the third, said the rookie mixed his speeds well and used his cutter and his slider effectively. The right fielder recorded his 18th career multi-homer game and homered from both sides of the plate for the 11th time in his career.

"[Smyly] did a good job today. First time we've seen him coming around. Has a little different delivery than a normal pitcher and did a good job, really used his curveball effectively today," Swisher said. "We just got to get ready for him the next time."

Detroit manager Jim Leyland believes his starter capitalized on the Yankees having never seen Smyly before. It was the fourth start of Smyly's career.

"He really pitched like a veteran pitcher, to be honest with you," Leyland said. "Not a lot of guys can do that. Guys pitch a long time and can't do that. He was terrific today and like I said, they hadn't seen him and that helped."

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?

The Yankees' offense started with a bang. The rest of the game was a thud.

After hitting back-to-back homers to open the game and tallying three runs in the first five at-bats, the Bomber bats went cold for the rest of the night in a 7-3 loss to Minnesota. The Yankees had four hits in the first five at-bats but just five the rest of the game.

"To be able to come back (from 2-0) and start the game off with back-to-back home runs, that was pretty cool," right fielder Nick Swisher said. "It was kind of downhill from there."

The Yankees started the game in dramatic fashion, with Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson hitting back-to-back home runs off Carl Pavano to tie the score at 2-2 in a matter of minutes. The consecutive home runs to lead off a game was the first time the Yankees had accomplished the feat since Jeter and Robinson Cano did so on Sept. 23, 2005.

Mark Teixeira added an RBI single to right three batters later, but the bats fell silent after that. When the Yankees put two men on the fifth, trailing 4-3, Swisher and Raul Ibanez could not come through with hits and Minnesota took advantage.

The bottom of the lineup was particularly ineffective, with the No. 6-9 hitters batting 1-for-16.

"That was just a bad game. We fired off early and couldn't get anything going," Swisher said. "We hit the ball hard and we have a good-hitting team. We couldn't plate as many runs as we would have liked to do."

Manager Joe Girardi said that Pavano, who beat the Yankees for the first time in his career with seven solid innings, was able to get the ball down as the game went on. He was pleased with his teams at-bats, adding that there were hard-hit balls but they were all on the ground. The Yankees had just four base runners over Pavano's final 23 batters.

Postgame, Jeter tipped his hat to the former Yankee. He said Pavano is able to keep hitters off balance by mixing it up and backed his manager in saying he thought the team hit some balls hard although there were no results to show.

"He pitched well. He mixed it up. He knows how to pitch," Jeter said. "Carl's always known how to pitch. The only problem he's ever had is his health. When he's healthy, he pitches well. It's just one inning, we scored three runs, but he settled down after that."

Coming into the game, the Twins had lost 28 of the last 33 games in the Bronx, and after the first inning, it seemed like loss No. 29 was horizon. Those back-to-back homers, though, would be the highlight of the Yankees' night and the Twins offense instead went on the attack.

"You hope (the home runs will translate to a big night) but it was the first inning, we know he's going to make some adjustments," Jeter said. "He left a couple balls up there in the first inning but after that he settled down. You hope every night is going to be a big night, but he deserves a lot of credit. He pitched well."

Jerome Williams Matchups to Watch
Williams developed a pitch that is a cross between a cutter and a slider a few years ago and the pitch proved to be very effective for him during his recall last season.

When Williams is on, he’s able to move the ball down and in to a left-handed hitter, down-and-away to a righty. He rarely throws a pitch to the upper-third of the strike zone and above, rating among the least-frequent throwers to that area in the majors.

Maybe this will be the cure for what ails Mark Teixeira, who has nine home runs and 11 doubles on cutters and sliders from righties since 2009.

Teixeira has been hungry for a right-handed pitcher to throw him a pitch on the inner-third. Of the 99 pitches he’s seen from righties, only 15 have been thrown inside to him. Teixeira struggled against those pitches last season, but had a good history in previous seasons.

Ivan Nova Matchups to Watch
Nova was hittable for parts of his first start of the season against the Orioles, but was tough when he had to be, holding Baltimore to 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

That might be tougher tonight. The Angels are hitting .294 with runners in scoring position this season.

Most of the Angels have faced Nova only a few times, but the one who has had success is speedy centerfielder Peter Bourjos, who tagged Nova for three ground ball singles and a home run in his five turns against him.

Nova has won 13 straight regular-season decisions. One more win would tie for the second-longest winning streak in Yankees history.

Ca’No’ home runs yet
Robinson Cano has yet to hit a home run through the first eight games of the season. Over the last three seasons, Cano had homered at least once within the first three games.

Similar to what we said about Albert Pujols on Saturday, Cano is missing pitches that he usually crushes. From 2009 to 2011, he was among baseball's best mashers against pitches in the strike zone.

The heat maps above show how Cano has gotten his hits and outs this season. He's just 6-for-26 against pitches judged by Pitch F/X to be within the zone.

Cano has twice had to wait as late as his 18th game before hitting his first home run, doing so in both 2005 and 2007.


End Game
Neither team has had to go to its closer in a save situation yet, so perhaps the time will be right to see one of them tonight.

Mariano Rivera has a history of issues against the Angels, with a 3.65 ERA, but much of that is from earlier parts of his career. Rivera has converted his last 14 regular-season save chances against the Angels dating back to 2008.

Angels closer Jordan Walden has appeared in only two of the first eight games of the season. He did save a pair of games against the Yankees last season, striking out four in three innings.

Walden is one of the hardest-throwing pitchers in baseball. He’s thrown 18 fastballs this season and they’ve averaged 98 miles-per-hour.

Again, the best Yankee suited for that is Teixeira, who has six hits and three home runs against 98-plus pitches since 2009. The three home runs (two against Daniel Bard, one against Joel Zumaya) is the most in the majors.

The Yankee who might have the biggest issue is Nick Swisher, who is 1-for-13 in at-bats ending against 98-plus pitches in that span.

Have the clocks in the Bronx gone back 85 years?

After beating the Angels 5-0 Friday, right fielder Nick Swisher compared the Yankees current lineup on Friday to the one that used to roam the old ballpark in the Bronx in 1927. The same one that earned a nickname of Murderers' Row for its propensity to bludgeon opposing pitching.

"If you look through our lineup, in my mind, we still have to go out there and prove it but I feel like this could be a new generation of the old school Murderers' Row," Swisher said. "I feel like we've got a lot of power through the middle of our lineup, we've got some speed at the top, speed at the bottom. It's a fun lineup to be a part of."

While the Yankees offense is averaging a healthy 4.87 runs per game to start the 2012 season, it hasn't exactly been an offensive juggernaut, topping out at six runs in a single game. The team is on pace to score approximately 787 runs, which would be 188 less than the 1927 Yankees. That lineup featured Hall of Famers such as Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.

Perhaps that's why Yankees shorstop Derek Jeter's only reaction to hearing Swisher's comments was suggesting his teammate might want to pump the breaks on the comparison.

"Easy, Swish," Jeter said.

QUESTION: What's your opinion on Swisher's comments about the lineup? Let us know in the comments section below.

Seeing an old teammate back in town fired up Nick Swisher on Friday.

After watching former Yankees catcher Jorge Posada throw out the ceremonial first pitch, Swisher cleared the bases in the bottom of the first inning with a long double that ignited the Yankees to a 5-0 win against the Angels.

"The power of Jorge Posada today, fellas," Swisher said. "Such a great day and to be able to acknowledge him for all the things he's done for baseball and for this organization and for this city. It was just nice to be up in the spotlight like that and be able to come through and put us up on the board early and then (Hiroki) Kuroda and the boys took care of the rest."

Posada, the former Yankees catcher, retired in the offseason and the team brought him back for the ceremonial first pitch before Friday's home opener. After Posada threw out the pitch, Swisher and all the other starters individually congratulated Posada on the mound. The outfielder spoke admiringly about Posada, who won five titles with the team.

Swisher carried his momentum from Wednesday's game against Baltimore to the team's home opener. His go-ahead two-run homer in the 10th inning powered the Yankees to the sweep over the Orioles Wednesday. Friday, his double gave the Yankees all the offense they would need, putting the team up 3-0 after his ball just got over the head of Peter Bourjos in center.

Swisher went 2-for-4 on the day, adding a single in the eighth, to raise his average to .250. He leads the team with nine RBIs, with five coming in the last two games.

"In a situation like that, you got a team that a lot of people think, you know, pretty good squad, and to be able to be up 3-0 in the bottom of the first inning definitely puts a little momentum on our side," Swisher said.

In the last year of his contract, Swisher entered this season with the mindset of preventing a repeat of last year's "stressful" season. The outfielder batted .260 with 23 home runs and 85 RBIs, his fewest homers as a Yankee, and his averaged was stuck in the low .200s in June. He also struggled in the playoffs, hitting 4-for-19 with one homer in the ALDS loss against Detroit.

This season, he's determined to have fun when he's playing the game, forgetting about the stress. So far, as he's helped the Yankees win their fourth straight game after losing the first three of the year, Swisher is certainly having plenty of fun. Especially with an old friend around.

"He does so much for this game and this organization," Swisher said of Posada. "The tributes they played for him between innings, it kind of gives you Goosebumps a little bit because he's what a true Yankee is and you just want to try to follow in the footsteps of a guy like that."

Alex Rodriguez said he’s gunning for Derek Jeter's leadoff spot.

Well, A-Rod: Nick Swisher is gunning for you.

After blasting the game-winning two-run home run in Baltimore on Wednesday night, the Yankees' right fielder jumped on a 2-1 96 mph fastball from Ervin Santana and drilled it into right-center field for a two-out bases clearing double, staking his team out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning.

Swisher, who is batting sixth, now has a team-leading nine RBIs.

A-Rod, by the way, smoked a solid single to left and stole a base in his first at-bat in the No. 3 spot.

Before Nick Swisher's go-ahead two-run homer in the 10th, he took two balls and fouled two others. With the game tied and Mark Teixeira on second, Swisher just had one goal.

"I'm just trying to make contact," Swisher said.

On the fifth pitch from Orioles reliever Kevin Gregg, Swisher sure did make contact. When he hit it, he though that "might score him," demonstrating a little sarcasm.

"I was just lucky to get the barrel on it," Swisher, turning to false-modesty, said.

Swisher nailed the two-run shot and the Yankees went home after 10, having swept the Orioles.

Here are five more notes from Wednesday's 6-4 win:

1.) Joe Girardi used Mariano Rivera for the third straight game. He only did that once all of last season.

"I was ready for it," Rivera said.

2.) Rafael Soriano, who pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings, said he understood why Girardi had him intentionally walk Nick Markakis to load the bases for Adam Jones in the bottom of the ninth. Jones, who was 0-for-6 against Soriano, is right-handed and Soriano knows he is much more effective against righties than lefties.

Girardi said he knew he would have been criticized if it didn't work, but he had to make the call he thought was right. He reasoned that Nolan Reimold would score on a hit from second anyway. Since Soriano doesn't walk many or throw too many wild pitches, Girardi favored the righty on righty matchup. It worked as Soriano struck out Jones.

Soriano said he had Super Glue -- or a Super Glue-like substance -- put on his cut middle fingernail that kept him out of Tuesday's game. He said the nail still hurts, but he expects to be fine. He looked pretty good on Wednesday.

3.) Before Nick Swisher's two-run homer, the Yankees lucked out when birthday boy Mark Teixeira hit a high popup that evaded the shift and fell near the line in left for a double.

"I didn't get any breaks in Tampa," said Teixeira, reasoning he is due.

Teixeira turned 32. He is hitting .200 with no homers and 1 RBI thorugh the first six games.

4.) CC Sabathia was fine after trying to use his throwing hand to catch Ronny Paulino's come-backer in the second.

"I don't know how many times we have told him to not grab it with his hands," Girardi lamented afterward.

5.) We are going to have a full State of the Yankees after six games in the First Pitch (7 a.m., every day), but the biggest highlight of this team thus far is the bullpen. Sabathia called the releivers "unbelievable." The bullpen's combined ERA is 2.11 (five earned runs in 21 1/3 innings).