We are ten games into the 2012 season and after that first weekend the Yankees have played much better. They swept the O’s, took two of three from the Angels, and are looking to take three of four from the Twinkies. Of course their play hasn’t been perfect, but it’s still very early and players are starting to hit their groove.

Speaking of hitting Jeter is off to one of his best starts, and already has two homers. Since his 3,000th hit last year he is batting over .350. That’s unbelievable and both Jeter and manager Joe Girardi have attributed it to the pressure being relieved and Jeter being able to go back to just playing ball. If Jeter can hit .300 at the top of this batting order they will have no problem scoring runs.

Stopping the other team from scoring runs has turned into a problem for the last two guys in the rotation Phil Hughes and Freddy Garcia. I do not want to pass judgment on them until at least five starts, but they need to do some serious improvement if they want to keep their spots. They each have started two games, and their combined ERA is 8.00. Seven walks to 19 strikeouts are not bad, but when you add those walks to the 26 hits they’ve given up you get a WHIP of almost 2. They are not pitching late into the game, because they are getting hit early, which is adding unneeded innings to the bullpen. If they continue to pitch like this at least one of them will be working out of said bullpen to make room for Andy.

Pettitte, who is pitching in Tampa, will start one more game in Tampa, according to Yankees GM Brian Cashman. In his last start he threw 31 of his 47 pitches for strikes, unlike the 47 pitches Garcia and Hughes threw in the second inning. He has been given a target return date of May 15th.
That day cannot come soon enough, because right now the Yankee staff looks mediocre at best.

In Pineda news, the right hander who started the season on the 15-day DL threw his first bullpen session which included 26 pitches and Cashman said everything was “all good.” He’ll have at least one more session before possibly pitching in the minors, but extreme caution will be exercised with this young talent so don’t expect to much from him to soon.