AL East Round Up: Easter Bunny Edition

Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

New York Yankees

The Yankees have managed to climb into first place on the backs of their starting rotation. And, they had better! They’ve spent enough on it.  Price tags aside, the Yankee starters have been impressive. Ivan Nova started it off last Sunday with a win over the Boston Red Sox holding them to 2 runs over 7 1/3 innings. On Wednesday in a double header caused by bad weather against the Chicago Cubs, Masahiro Tanaka and Michael Pineda combined for 14 innings and 0 (!) runs. Tanaka started the double dip with a 10 strike out performance! Blue Jay fans can take heart, though. Not everything is as sweet as chocolate for the Yankees this week as the bullpen also had their own implosion. They coughed up 8 runs in their final 2 innings against the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday. Saturday was no easier as the Yankees were spanked 16-1 by the Rays.

***UPDATE*** Some bad news broke today:

Offensively, the Yankees are being led by the likes of Alfonso Soriano, Brian McCann (they went back to back on Thursday, which is great for someone who happens to have both of them on his fantasy team) and Carlos Beltran, who in his 17th(!) season is batting .298 with 4HR. Speaking of Beltran, he took a tumble over a right field wall in Tampa Bay:

Someone should remind him he is not a youngster any more. Who does he think he is? Brett Lawrie? He’s older than I am and there is NO WAY you’d see me going anywhere near that wall! Bryan Hoch at MLB.com tells us that the MRI on Betran’s wrist was negative. Here’s hoping he is OK. Us old folks don’t heal like we used to.

NOTES:

-Bryan Hoch informs us that Mark Teixeira and David Robertson should be returning from the DL Sunday and Tuesday respectively.

– A HUGE Brett Lawrie celebratory high five to the Yankees who pulled off an elusive triple play on Friday night against the Rays:

Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Toronto Blue Jays

The Blue Jays have been getting some nice pitching of their own. Specifically, Mark Buehrle has started the season 4-0 with an ERA 0.86! He’s off to a memorable start for the Jays. Looks like someone picked a good time to add Buehrle to his fantasy team. He’s red hot. Drew Hutchison chipped in two good starts this week. Brandon Morrow only lasted 3 2/3 innings against the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday. He struck out 4 and gave up 2 runs. Even worse than that was the performance of R.A. Dickey this week. It doesn’t need to be rehashed. It is too painful. I also won’t go into the bullpen gong show of Thursday either. I don’t want to ruin your Easter. Let’s  just say that there were a lot of droppings. But, remember, it does happen. It happened to the Yankees…even worse.

Offensively, the Blue Jays are benefiting from  a healthy Melky Cabrera! He’s hitting everything. Jose Bautista is walking all over the place. He also leads the league with 6 HR. This combination has his OBP at .453, which is also good for first. With Jose Reyes coming back to the lineup, this offense looks even more exciting. As well, Brett Lawrie is starting to come around with a grand slam on Tuesday against the Twins:

NOTES:

-The Blue Jays lost Maicer Izturis for what looks like the rest of the season. According to Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com, the infielder has a complete (!) tear of his lateral collateral ligament (LCL), which will need to be surgically repaired and the recovery time is expected to be 4-6 months. Izturis tripped on the dugout stairs after warming up for Sunday’s game.

-As well, Casey Janssen will be out for longer than expected with an abdominal/lower back problem. Joining him on the DL will be Adam Lind, who is suffering from his own back issues.

Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

 Tampa Bay Rays

Oh, man. It is not a good time to be a pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays. Injuries have taken over the Rays’ pitching staff in a big way this season. You know it’s bad when you HAVE TO rely on Erik Bedard to start. Matt Moore has decided to have Tommy John surgery, Alex Cobb went to the DL with an oblique injury and they’ve been without Jeremy Hellickson this season. What are they? The Blue Jays? Yet, the Rays have managed to not fall off the face of the earth. They  are 2-3 this week, including dominating 2 of 3 from the Yankees. Evan Longoria is doing his part sporting a .333 average coming in to Saturday’s game. James Loney busted out 4 RBI in a thrashing of the Yankees on Friday. Wil Myers is starting to come around with a couple dingers on Saturday as the Rays took it to the Yankees for the second night in a row. David Price has a winning record, which is no shock , but his ERA is a whopping 4.39 so far this season. There have been lots of people suggesting that the Rays will find a way to win and be right in the mix of things come September. Joe Maddon will guide them to the playoffs. But injuries are something that even the great Joe Maddon can’t help.

NOTES:

-The Rays were on the receiving (giving?) end of the Yankees triple play.

-A huge Brett Lawrie celebratory high five to Evan Longoria who takes over first place on the all time Rays homerun list!

Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Baltimore Orioles

Things are starting to come around for the Orioles and their pitching staff. Wei-Yin Chen went 6 1/3 innings against the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday and only gave up 5 hits, 1 ER and struck out 4. Miguel Gonzalez struck out 6 and shut out the Rays on Wednesday. Chris Tillman gutted out 5 innings of 7 hits ball against the Red Sox on Friday while Bud Norris went 6 1/3 innings on Saturday. He would give up 4 ER and strike out 7, but it wasn’t enough. The fact that Orioles are 8-8 shows that they haven’t quite got everything firing on all cylinders. When Delmon Young has the highest average on your team, there is something amiss. Matt Wieters leads the team in HR with 3. The rest of the league is probably wondering when Chris Davis‘ bat will come out of hibernation. Although, they’ll quickly regret it when it does. The question is: How long will we be waiting for this team to ‘put it all together’?

NOTES:

-Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com tells us that Manny Machado, Dylan Bundy and Johan Santana are all making progress in their attempts to return to MLB action. While each is making his own progress, it sounds as though they could be ready soon. Maybe that will be the injection the O’s need.

-Out of the “Eye rolling, are you kidding me” department comes the following. Bud Norris attempts to show Cody Ross who’s boss, which (unnecessarily) emptied the benches.

Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Boston Red Sox

Oh, boy. The Easter Bunny has come to me early. The Sox are in last place in the East. Is it bad that this makes me giddy? How does John Farrell‘s jaw like that, I wonder? OK, I’ll try and be professional…

The Red Sox went 3-3 this week. So far, the only piece of dependable, effective pitching seems to come from Jon Lester. He’s 2-2 with an ERA of 2.17. Jake Peavy is an interesting story. He has yet to get a decision, but his ERA is a very neat 1.93. He’s only given up 4 earned runs thus far. The Sox have given up 42 walks this season. That is not going to help you retain a championship. Luckily for them, they’ve been able to hang in to most of their contests. The White Sox helped them out on Wednesday by allowing 15 (!) Red Sox batters to jog to first base freely. 15! The Red Sox do not have a single batter in their starting lineup who is hitting over .300. The Great David Ortiz is hitting just .222. They are going to have to pick up the offense if they hope to contend in the AL East.

NOTES:

–Cody Ross took exception to Bud Norris coming inside (3 times) on a bunt attempt and let him know. The benches cleared. Yawn.

-The Sox had a bit of a nervous week as they thought they’d have to lose Dustin Pedroia and Koji Uehara to injuries. Neither needed to be placed on the DL. Mike Napoli also dislocated a finger but was back in the lineup Thursday: *WARNING: If you are at all squeamish, you might not want to watch this video*

HAPPY EASTER!