Good morning, Pinstripe Alley readers. Here is your usual morning news for Wednesday, May 9th, as David Phelps attempts to extend the Yankees' modest winning streak to three games tonight against the Rays and Jeff Niemann.
- In case you missed last night's action, Raul Ibanez homered twice to back Ivan Nova's seven strong innings as the Yankees beat the Rays, 5-3. Curtis Granderson also pitched in with a homer and David Robertson earned his first save in 2012.
- Andy Pettitte will return to the Bronx this Sunday to make his first start since 2010 against the Seattle Mariners. Pettitte has made six outings at the Minor League level before the Yankees decided to call him up. Over at the Daily News, John Harper thinks the Yankees are making the right call by bringing him up on Sunday.
- Apparently there was a complication found in Mariano Rivera's knee after doctors examined Monday, but Cashman would not comment on the issue. However, he did state that it would not have an affect on his ability to pitch in 2013.
- According to Michael Salfino of The Wall Street Journal, the Yankees rotation has lacked "quality." He found that the Yankees only had 9 quality starts (10 now including Ivan Nova last night). At the time it was written, that was good for a quality start percentage of just 32% combined for all Yankees starters.
- River Ave. Blues has a run down of yesterday's Minor League games. Manny Banuelos turned in his second quality outing in a row as he was limited in pitches during his second start back from injury. He tossed five innings, didn't walk a batter, and threw 49 of his 75 pitches for strikes (65.3%). He also struck out three batters. In the same game, Gardner participated and went 2-for-3 as he makes his way back to the big league club.
- Mike Axisa reported that Joba Chamberlain is no longer wearing a walking boot and is continuing his rehab from both the ankle injury and Tommy John Surgery. Brian Cashman recently said it is definitely possible that we will see Joba back on a mound this year.