Cubs might help open new Stadium

Opening Day in the new park is still slated for April 16 against the Cleveland Indians, but the Yankees and Chicago Cubs may play an exhibition game on Monday, April 6.

According to the article, the Cubs are the Yankees' first choice and the clubs are still negotiating.

Day-night doubleheader tomorrow in Fenway

The Yankees and Red Sox will close out the regular season with a day-night doubleheader tomorrow, beginning at 1:35 p.m.. The night game is scheduled to begin at 7:35 p.m., weather permitting.

Mike Mussina, who is going for his 20th win, will pitch the day game. Sidney Ponson will then close out the Yankees season in Game 2.

2009 schedule released

We've been thinking about next season for a while, and Yankees.com has finally caught up.

The 2009 schedule was released today, with the Yankees opening the season on April 6 in Baltimore. They will open the new stadium on the 16th against Cleveland.

In addition to playing the Mets the normal six times, they will face the four other NL East opponents in May and June.

The food chain

The Yankees are 12-0 against the Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres and Houston Astros. They are 33-41 against everyone else.

The Red Sox defeated the Yankees 7-0 tonight after getting swept at the hands of the surging Tampa Bay Rays. It just may be time to accept the fact that the Yankees are not a very good team.

Good-bye, Interleague (for now)

The Yankees, with this afternoon's 3-1 loss to the Mets, have concluded their 2008 Interleague schedule (until July 10's makeup game in Pittsburgh).

The Yankees finished this portion of the schedule with a record of 10-7, helping them get to six games over .500 as they swept Houston and San Diego.

They also lost one of their best pitchers, Chien-Ming Wang, in a freak baserunning injury. Whether or not you want to blame Interleague play for that (I do), it certainly didn't help matters.

After playing Texas for three games, the Yankees play Boston at home for four games and then Tampa Bay for two. This could give Yankees fans an idea of how their team stacks up against the frontrunners in the East at the moment.

Two-stadium doubleheader set for June 27

The Yankees and Mets will participate in a two-stadium, day-night doubleheader on Friday, June 27 as a result of the May 16th rainout at Yankee Stadium. This is the third time such a doubleheader will be played.

The game at Yankee Stadium will begin a 2 p.m. and the nightcap at Shea will be pushed back an hour to 8 p.m.

Whether or not there will be a cool police motorcade with helicopters over the Triborough Bridge remains to be seen.

Thank you, Seattle

The Yankees are 6-0 against the Seattle Mariners this season. This means that the Yankees are 19-25 against the rest of their opponents.

They next play Seattle Sept. 5-7 at SAFECO Field. Hopefully the Yankees will have a better record among their non-Seattle opponents by then.

Through 44 games

Through 44 games last season, the Yankees were in second place with a record of 20-24. However, they were 10.5 games behind the future world champion Boston Red Sox.

This season, the Yankees sit at the same record they did a year ago. While they are only six games behind the first-place Boston Red Sox, they are also in last place.

The more things change the more they stay the same.

The Yankees cannot rely on beating up the lesser teams in their division like they have the last decade. Every team in the division, especially the Tampa Bay Rays, seems to have improved.

The schedule does appear to lighten in the coming weeks, but as we've seen so far, nothing has been easy for the 2008 Yankees. They continue this homestand with three games against Baltimore (23-20) and three more against Seattle (18-27). For some reason, the Mariners return to New York after having been there three weeks earlier.

They then travel to Baltimore for three games and Minnesota (21-22) for four games. The Yankees then return home to face the great pitching of Toronto (23-23) for three games and Kansas City (21-22) for four games.

With Alex Rodriguez set to return tomorrow, the lineup will get a much-needed boost. Jorge Posada will also begin his rehab games in the near future. However, the starting pitching cannot put the lineup in an early hole. They have shown no comeback ability thus far. It seems that once they fall behind, they start swinging for the fences early in the count.

2008 schedule released

From the official press release:

The Yankees' 81-game home schedule will feature three series totaling nine games with each of the club's four American League East rivals (Baltimore, Boston, Tampa Bay and Toronto) as well as Interleague series vs. three National League opponents. The Yankees will host the New York Mets on May 16-17-18, the San Diego Padres on June 17-18-19 and the Cincinnati Reds on June 20-21-22. Additionally, the Yankees will make their first-ever regular season appearance at Minute Maid Park vs. the Houston Astros on June 13-14-15 and their first Pittsburgh appearance since the 1960 World Series on June 24-25-26 at PNC Park vs. the Pirates. The Yankees conclude their 2008 Interleague schedule vs. the Mets at Shea Stadium on June 27-28-29. (Yankees.com)

The complete schedule can be found here (.pdf file).

36 games remaining

With 36 games remaining, the Yankees are six games behind Boston in the AL East and 2.5 games behind Seattle in the Wild Card.

All is not lost, however.

The Yankees have six games remaining with Boston. The three home games will be played August 28-30 and the three road games will be played September 14-16. They also have three home games remaining against Seattle in September (3-5).

I have been overtly negative this season, and I'm still not totally convinced that the Yankees can make the playoffs, but anything can happen when they play the teams directly in front of them in the standings.

The Yankees had nice series against Cleveland and Detroit, but they are still struggling to beat Los Angeles. After tonight's final game against Los Angeles, they travel to Detroit for four games before returning home for Boston. The reason the Yankees are 14 games above .500 is because of the stretch of 28 games against teams under .500. It is time to beat good teams in the American League to prove that the Yankees are not just bullies.