Nightly Links: Recap, Banuelos, Blown Saves

The Yankees beat the Angels 5-0 today in their home opener in the Bronx.

Kuroda’s First Start in the Bronx
As a pitcher in the NL West, never before started in Yankee Stadium. As a pitcher who dealt with groundball issues last year, many questioned how well he would pitch in the hitter’s park aided by the short porch, and today’s results were certainly a statement to all the doubters. With an 8-6 groundball-flyball rate, Kuroda dominated the Angel’s lineup, going 8.0 innings, giving up only 5 hits, 2 walks, and 6 strikeouts. Of those 5 hits, none went for extra bases, and only two runners made it past first base all game. With 109 pitches thrown, Girardi pulled Kuroda and sent David Robertson out in the 9th, where he put up all 0′s with 1 strikeout.

The Unclutch Players Come Through
I’ve heard a lot about Swisher’s short coming with RISP at the beginning of this season thanks to struggling in October. On Wednesday night he had a big 2-run homerun to finish off the game in the 10th inning and save the bullpen, so naturally such an unclutch player couldn’t do it again. Well with the bases loaded and 2 outs, on a 2-1 fastball up in the zone, Swisher crushed a bases clearing double to right center, and gave the Yankees a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Not only was the terrible hitting the ball well, but the dreadful went 3 for 4 with his 630th career homerun to tie Jr on the all time homerun list. Granderson also homered in his second of the year, and hit his 3rd double of the year. The Yankees beat the Angel’s 5-0. (Box Score)

• D.J. Mitchell started for the Scranton Yankees today, and gave them another short and shaky outing. After a 4.0 innings, 5 hits, 3 runs, 3 walks, and 4 strikeout performance, Chase Whitley got into his first AAA game, going 4.0 innings, giving up only 1 hit, and 3 strikeouts. I ranked the 22 year old pitcher #6 in the Yankees organization for relief pitchers back in February. Offensively, went 2 for 3 with 2 walks, and kept raking behind him in the lineup, hitting 2 doubles and 2 singles. and also had doubles today. The Scranton Yankees beat Buffalo 7-5. (Box Score)

• After a few relief appearances, Cory Arbiso got the start for Trenton tonight. In his 4.0 innings of work he gave up 5 hits, 1 walk, and 3 strikeouts. In relief, Preston Claiborne went 2.0 innings, but also gave up 4 hits 2 runs, 1 walk, and 3 strikeouts in a weak performance. Ryan Flannery was dominant in his 2.0 innings, posting all 0′s and 3 strikeouts. The offense was certainly weak today, with Walter Ibarra having the only multi-hit game, and the team was able to avoid any extra base hits. Trenton lost to Akron 2-1. (Box Score)

• Jose Ramirez was given the ball for the Tampa Yankees tonight, and was highly disappointing in his 4.1 innings, giving up 11 hits, 7 runs, 3 walks, and only 1 strikeout. The relievers were very strong however, with Vidal Nuno going 1.2 innings, positing all 0′s and 2 strikeouts, Branden Pinder going 2.0 innings, 1 unearned run, 1 walk, and 2 strikeouts, and Manueal Barreda going 1.0 innings, 0′s, and 1 strikeout. The offense couldn’t recover from Ramirez’ start, with Kyler Roller having the only multi-hit game, and Jose Toussen and Jose Mojica both hitting doubles. Tampa lost to Daytona 8-4. (Box Score)

• In Charleston, Bryan Mitchell got the start. Suffering some serious command issues, Mitchell only went 2.0 innings, giving up 1 hit, 2 runs, 6 walks (!), and 1 strikeout. A disappointing night for the righty considering his previous start was superb. While Daniel Mahoney struggled in relief, giving up 4 runs in 2.0 innings, Zachary Varce went a clean 2.0 innings, giving up only 2 hits, 1 walk, and 3 strikeouts. Ben Paullus also struggled in relief, going 2.0 innings, 3 hits, 3 runs, 2 walks, and 2 strikeouts. The offense had another strong day, with Mason Williams and Gary Sanchez going 2 for 5 with singles. Williams also stole his 5th base of the year. Tyler Austin went 2 for 5 as well, but with a double and a triple. He’s gotta be OPS’ing something incredible now. And finally, Cito Culver, yes Cito Culver, went 3 for 5 with his first stolen base of the year. Charleston lost to Rome 9-4. (Box Score)

• Yankees Fans Unite believe that the Cashman and Girardi know how to develop and keep strong bullpens. I agree.

• Our own William Juliano is counting the blown save opportunities and while it might appear that the amount of blown saves is unprecedented, the data shows that the amount of blown saves is falling.

• The first week of Baseball America’s Prospect Hot Sheet covers top shot prospects like Dylan Bundy, Trevor Bauer, , and some guy named Jose Campos.

• Bad news on the injury front, Manny Banuelos was placed on the Triple-A disabled list for back issues. It doesn’t appear to be anything too severe and he’ll likely only miss one start. At least it helps explain the awful starts.

• Mike Newman of FanGraphs took the trip to look at the Charleston Yankees, and although Gary Sanchez didn’t play, he was blown away by the other prospects. Dante Bichette Jr, Mason Williams, Angelo Gumbs, and even Anderson Feliz draw praise. He liked what he saw from Tyler Austin, but is curious to see what he does against better pitching.