Jorge Posada took himself out of the lineup, retirement has to be a possibility

Brian Cashman in the second inning of tonight’s game said that Jorge Posada took himself out of the lineup at 6 p.m. He was slotted to hit ninth.

“It’s not an injury situation, that’s all I can report right now. … He’d like to talk to the press after the game about it,” Cashman said.

The idea of retirement is pure speculation on my part, but I know I’m not the only one with that idea. However, Joel Sherman, a highly respectable reporter for the New York Post, heard this:

I hear Posada is not retiring and also that #Yankees were not on board with him pulling self from lineup, clear clash here

UPDATE: YES Network’s Jack Curry, also a quality reporter, provided information backing up Sherman’s report.

Poll Results: Yankees can win East without Phil Hughes

In my latest poll, the majority of voters said the Yankees can still win the American League East without the young Phil Hughes in the rotation.

I expected a lot more from Hughes this year. In three starts, he was extremely ineffective. With 16 earned runs in 10 1/3 innings, memories of Chien-Ming Wang’s infamous start to 2009 came to mind. Now he is on the disabled list for the next six to eight weeks with a “dead arm.”

Nate’s Takes: Colon, strikeouts, Nunez

So a week that saw two pitchers throw no-hitters with a combined five strike outs, ended with Francisco Cervelli hitting a grand slam over the center field wall. The Yankees overall had a rough week, but still find themselves in first place in the American League East. Last week, I predicted the Yankees would go 4-3 and they instead went 3-4. The Yankees offense stopped hitting and we can only hope that Cervelli’s homer sparks the Yankees offense much like in 2009.

If you also remember, I predicted Derek Jeter would hit his first home run against Texas. So right now I am 2-2 in home run predictions! Anyway, here is my take on the week.

Nate’s Takes: Granderson, Hughes, Cervelli

So after being distracted for the last two hours watching this Osama thing I finally had time to put together this week’s Nate’s Takes. Last week, I predicted the Yankees would go 5-2. Instead they went 4-3 thanks to Rafael Soriano and some ridiculous catches by Brent Lillibridge. If you also remember I correctly predicted that Nick Swisher would hit his first home run of the season versus the White Sox. I was also a week late on the Kevin Millwood prediction. He can go take his 85 mph fastballs somewhere else.

Overall the Yankees stand at 16-9, which is first place in the AL East. So why does it still not seem like the Yankees are not on top of their game? With Jorge Posada, Swisher, Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter struggling it seems as though the offense has not lived up to expectations (although they have hit a lot of homeruns). With Soriano and Mariano Rivera blowing more games in April than expected it seems as though the Yankees should have a few more wins. With that said, here is what I have for the week.

Poll Results: Curtis Granderson will lead surprising trio in homers

Through April, the Yankees hold a considerable major league lead for team home runs (45). A big reason for that is the unexpected power from Russell Martin, Jorge Posada and Curtis Granderson. The latter, as voted on by readers this past week, is most likely to lead the trio in homers at the end of the year.

Let’s take a look at the current leaderboard: