Felix Hernandez wins Cy Young, I hope you weren’t surprised

Felix Hernandez’s combination of ERA, innings pitched and strikeouts (ranked first, first and second in the AL respectively) was more than enough to earn him his first Cy Young Award. That’s why he received 21 of the 28 first-place votes.

CC Sabathia earned three of those votes, but wound up in third place behind David Price. I agreed with this order too.

If anyone can make an argument for why Hernandez was not deserving of the Cy Young honors this year, be my guest. Do it in the comments and I will definitely have a response.

Poll Results: Fans scared of Rays in playoffs

In my latest poll, fans voted they were most scared of facing the Rays in the playoffs. Neither the Twins nor the Rangers received many votes.

I sided with the fans this week. The Rays were the only team listed that has a deep starting rotation. It’s really hard to compete when you don’t have answers for David Price and Matt Garza.

If the season ended today, the Yankees would face the Rangers in the first round and have home field advantage until the World Series (if they get there). The Rays would face the Twins.

Just for kicks, I’m going to look into the National League for minute.

The Phillies, Braves, Reds and Giants would be in the postseason, but the Padres are fighting desperately for a spot.

My preseason World Series pick of Yankees vs. Giants is still intact, but I’m starting to think the Phillies are too good once again.

Next poll: Who deserves their award more?

Yankees playing thrilling baseball lately

If you haven’t seen it, Greg Golson’s game-ending play last night for the Yankees is well worth waiting for the 10-second ad on MLB.com.

A Little Context: The Yankees led the Rays, 6-0, in the fifth, but it took a 10th-inning homer from Jorge Posada to even the series at 1 and put the Yankees back atop the AL East.

More Context: The Yankees lost a true pitchers’ duel the night before, also in extras, as CC Sabathia and David Price delivered Cy Young-like starts.

Sabathia is still considered by most (me too) as the leader for the Cy Young Award, especially now that Felix Hernandez’s workload will be monitored. But who really knows after my post yesterday.

A Lot More Context: Five of the Yankees’ last six games ended with a one-run winning margin. All five were decided in free baseball, but the Yankees won just two of them. That’s a lot of intense baseball in seven days.

Bottom Line: I’ve been extremely busy with my college newspaper lately, please marvel here, but for now I am definitely back. I’ll be perfectly honest; I didn’t catch a wink of football over opening weekend, not even my Giants (lenNY’s Giants? Maybe down the road).

My focus is purely on the Yankees until they’re eliminated. If they’re ever eliminated, that is.

Yankees crush Price, Rays in rubber game

The Yankees knocked around All-Star starter David Price for seven runs over five innings to take the series with a 9-5 win. More important than the win, however, was the loss of Andy Pettitte, who left the game in the third with a strained left groin.

Best of All: David Robertson and Chan Ho Park looked sharp in the bullpen, keeping the Yankees in the game early.

Each of the first six hitters had at least one hit and an RBI in the contest — a pretty impressive feat against the Rays’ ace.

Worst of All: Obviously Pettitte was the worst news from today. Other than Pettitte, the only blemish was Jorge Posada’s throwing error. He tried to make a throw like a shortstop on the run, but while wearing catching equipment.

Coming Up: The Yankees get a day off before six more home games this week. The big question is whether or not Alex Rodriguez, who slugged No. 598 today, will be able to slug No. 600 at home.

Rays-Yankees series preview

The Rays have won four straight and hold an absurd .718 winning percentage through almost a quarter of the season, and the Yankees bullpen has blown three eighth-inning leads in a row.

Fortunately for the Yanks, they won’t have to face David Price or Matt Garza — two pitchers SI’s Cliff Corcoran sees as top 5 AL Cy Young candidates thus far.

They also have another thing going for them: I’ll be in attendance on Thursday, and they’re 2-0 this year when I’ve been in the crowd.

Pitching Matchups:

Date:	Rays starters	Yankees starters
Wed., 7:05 p.m.	Wade Davis (3-3, 3.38)	A.J. Burnett (4-1, 3.31)
Thurs., 7:05 p.m.	James Shields (4-1, 3.00)	Andy Pettitte (5-0, 1.79)

Players to Watch:
Rays: Evan Longoria. My preseason AL MVP pick. He’s leading the team with a .318 batting average as well as nine homers and 35 RBIs. He’s by far the most dangerous hitter in the lineup, so he’s definitely the one guy you don’t want to be beaten by.

Yankees: Alex Rodriguez. All the sudden, the cleanup hitter is hitting .290. He still only has five homers so far, but he also has nine two-hit games this month and has been very clutch. Trust me, the power stroke will come soon enough. 

Prediction:
It’s only a two-game series and I think the Yankees can snag both. The Yanks will need two big performances from their starters because the bullpen just isn’t cutting it right now. Burnett and Pettitte should do the trick.

Price mows down Yanks in blowout

It didn’t matter how good Javier Vazquez was in his debut against the Rays. The night belonged to David Price.

Quick ‘Cap:
Price struck out seven over 7 2/3 innings in the Rays (3-1) 9-3 win over the Yankees (2-2). The Rays rallied for five runs in the fourth and added four more in the sixth (eight charged to Vazquez). Carlos Pena and Willy Aybar each launched two-run homers into the right field seats.

Alex Rodriguez hit a ball high off the wall in center to score Nick Johnson, who had singled, from first. Ex-Yankee catcher Dioner Navarro tried to nail Rodriguez at third, but his throw sailed into left field and Rodriguez came around to score. Johnson doubled home Derek Jeter in the eighth for the Yankees’ last run. Full box score here.

Thoughts:
Vazquez looked sharp for the first few innings, but he fell apart going through the order for the second time. Nobody’s pleased with his outing, but there’s no reason to jump to conclusions. Anyone remember CC Sabathia’s first start as a Yankee? 4 1/3 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 5 BB, 0 K and the loss to the Orioles. He wound up winning 19 games and a 3.37 ERA.

Line of the Night:
Price: W, 7 2/3 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 7 K. He looked very sharp in his 2010 debut. He threw 111 pitches (67 for strikes), which is a lot to ask for from a 24-year-old starter in April.

Up Next:
The Yankees will send out CC Sabathia to face No. 5 starter Wade Davis on Saturday at 3:10 p.m.

Poll results: Red Sox scare us more than Rays

My last poll had one of my best turnouts so far (21 votes), keep the voting coming!  I asked which team scared the Yankees more, the Red Sox or the Rays.

Red Sox:  76.2%

Rays:         23.8%

A pretty clear-cut response here, despite some possible biased Red Sox fans voting.  However, I too voted for the Red Sox.  I think with all of the offseason moves the Red Sox have made, plus with their previously loaded team, they are definitely the scariest team besides us in the AL East.  

For the Rays, they lose their element of surprise that they had last season.  Teams will know to watch out for them from the beginning.  Also, I will be interested to see how David Price fares as a starter this year.  I  know he was excellent for them in the September and the playoffs last year, but I see him as a two-pitch pitcher, which might not hold up when he faces batters for the second time around.  

Joba Chamberlain has made noticeable adjustments in his conversion from Starter to setup man back to starter.  

However, look out for Pat Burrell on the Rays (pretty much their only significant offseason move).