New York Yankees News - June 30, 2011

As the final day of June comes through, I'm not sure whether or not to be joyful, relieved, saddened, or a combination of these words. The Yankees are 17-8 this June and show no signs of stopping. With Phil Hughes, Bartolo Colon and Derek Jeter returning before the All-Star break, there isn't much to complain about in the Yankee Universe. Oh yeah, New York also holds a 2.5 game lead in the American League East. 

Onto the links...

According to Conor Orr of the Star-Ledger, Derek Jeter will likely make a rehab appearance with the Trenton Thunder this coming Saturday although no official word has been announced. Jeter was eligible to be activated off the DL today against the Brewers. Imagine what it'll look like with Jeter wearing a Trenton Thunder jersey.

As was announced all of yesterday, Phil Hughes had an excellent third rehab start at double-A Trenton yesterday. 

Hughes left in the seventh inning to a rousing standing ovation from the 4,916 fans who packed Waterfront Park after going 6 1/3 innings, giving up one run on three hits, striking out eight and walking two.

"Phil looked very good today," Trenton Thunder catcher Austin Romine said. "I think he was more on top of his stuff today. He threw pitches where he wanted. It's really cool to catch him."

Hughes was scheduled to throw 85-90 pitches and hurled 88 pitches, 61 for strikes. His command and velocity of his fastball and cutter were much improved from last week's start when he threw 72 pitches over 3 1/3 innings. Hughes hit a high of 94 mph four times in the second inning on Wednesday. His fastball velocity registered only 91-92 mph in his last start. He hit 95 in his first start with Staten Island, where he went 4 1/3 innings.

 

Good stuff indeed. Hughes will likely appear in a rehab start at triple-A Scranton before returning to the Bronx sometime around the All-Star break. 

Mariano Rivera helped save a century-old church in New Rochelle. He plans on investing $3 million in rebuilding it, and not a penny will have to be spent by the city. Heart of gold, folks. 

An interesting take from Josh Alper about why the Yankees shouldn't sign Prince Fielder. Not that any of his arguments are really anything new. 

If anyone deserves to be a reliever out of the bullpen other than Mariano, it's David Robertson. Get that walk rate down and he's an incredible commodity that any team would drool over. 1.11 ERA through 32.1 innings of pitching, and 52 strikeouts. Yup, K/9 rate of 14.46. That's Godly. "Sweet home, Alabama..."

Yankees go for the sweep this afternoon behind former Brewer CC Sabathia at 1:00pm.