Shipping up to Boston

That Twins-Yankees series was very entertaining, but also incredibly draining for the bullpen. To that end, the Yankees have reinforced their bullpen with a 14th pitcher by placing Brett Gardner on the IL and recalling Tarpley. It makes sense for now, the bullpen has covered almost 22 of the last 36 innings the Yankees have played. And with four games in Boston, expect the pen to get a workout. Tonight’s matchup is Tanaka and Porcello. When we last saw them face off, it was the first baseball game in London and neither made it out of the first inning.

For the Yankees, the goal entering these eight games in eleven days against Boston is simple, avoid a damaging outcome. With an eleven game lead, that is a pretty broadly defined term, but I would put it as winning at least three of the games over these two series. Of course the greedy fan wants more. If the Yankees can actually expand their lead over the next eight, some will declare the division clinched, but baseball history would suggest that we save the champagne until October.

One final note, Troy Tulowitzki retired today. His Yankee career will go down as a footnote, or perhaps a great trivia question, but his injuries robbed all of us of potentially seeing one of the all-time greats. His career will finish with numbers very similar to another shortstop prodigy- Nomar. What a pity we could never see them both play 15 years as healthy players.