One of the great things that I enjoy as a Yankees fan is the charitable sense of the organization that seems to be a direct reflection of George Steinbrenner. It's been well noted and documented, but despite what the exterior might imply, The Boss is a man who has helped countless people in ways we'll never know. Once in a while, some random person comes out of the woodwork and explains how he helped them in this situation or that situation. I'm sure this will continue.

It's in this spirit that I pass along this pair of stories. First, Jack Curry of the Times talks about Tommy Belsky, a 6 year old boy who, one year ago Tuesday, learned that his acute myeloid leukemia had gone into remission after chemotherapy treatment.

He played catch with Jeter and Cano. He fooled around with Swisher. He received catching advice from Posada and praise from Girardi. "This is beyond words," Tom Belsky, Tommy's father, told Curry. "This is a dream come true for a son and for a dad."

The very next day, the Yankees invited Polly Tompkins, a 38 year old schoolteacher who is fighting Stage 4 melanoma, breast cancer and pancreatic cancer, to be their honorary bat girl. Bryan Hoch has the story. I'll let Hoch describe it:

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MLB.com's Bryan Hoch and Tyler Kepner of the Times both report on the Yankees holding their first kangaroo court in 14 years.

Apparently, Xavier Nady has been collecting violations reported by Yankees players for the past two months and they finally pulled them out on Wednesday with players, coaches and staff on hand. Nady acted as the secretary and stenographer with the Honorable Mariano Rivera (how awesome is that?) presiding. Derek Jeter, A.J. Burnett and Johnny Damon served on the jury. Andy Pettitte turned down a spot on the panel, as he felt he wouldn't be funny enough.

Here are the violations that were highlighted in the articles:

Phil Coke was fined $30 for actions relating to the Joe Mauer home run he allowed on Friday. Apparently, Coke pointed to where the ball was going, implying that Brett Gardner would be able to reach it. But, the ball left the ballpark and Coke was making this gesture while he was also running to back up third base. A misjudgment that did not go unpunished. "You can get fined for pretty much anything," Coke says.

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George King at the Post reports that Wang made his scheduled throws on Tuesday, but that no decisions have been made as of yet.

Chad Jennings mentioned that Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre only has four starters right now and that the team is without a starter for their game next Monday - the day when Hughes' next start would need to be for him to remain on the same schedule he's on now.

This doesn't necessarily mean anything, but the possibility is there.

The Yankees got a decent start from Phil Hughes, a set of back-to-back-to-back home runs, and another late inning explosion en route to an 11–4 win over the Orioles. It was the 8th straight win for the Bombers as they now seem to be clicking on all cylinders.

Mark Teixeira put the Yankees ahead early with an RBI double in the first inning. The Yankees led off the second with three straight home runs to right field (Swisher, Cano, Cabrera) to extend the lead to 4–0. Robinson Cano made it 5–0 with a base hit in the third before a couple of home runs in for Baltimore in the next two innings closed the gap to 5–3.

Phil Hughes put in his second best effort of the season, allowing just the 3 runs on 6 hits in 5 innings, striking out 9. Hughes was taken out in favor of Alfredo Aceves to pitch the 6th inning despite throwing just 89 pitches, and did another solid job as he pitched two scoreless innnings.

The Yankees exploded again in the 8th, as they batted around for six runs, highlighted by run scoring hits by Cano, Melky, Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon and a sacrifice fly by Kevin Cash. Despite the 6-spot put up in the inning, Jeter's two-run double was the only extra-base hit in the inning.

The rest of the bullpen work was good, as Phil Coke retired two batters in the 8th and Mariano Rivera was brought in for a four-out save (the Orioles trailed by just two and had the tying run at the plate when he entered). Mo did surrender a solo home run in the 9th, but that would be the only hit he'd allow and he was able to record his 8th save of the season.

The Yankees will go for the sweep at 7:05 ET tomorrow night and will send Joba Chamberlain to the mound to face Adam Eaton and the Orioles.

Recap records: Patrick: 12–5, Seamus: 9–8, Andrew: 2–4

For the May 25 issue of Sporting News, the publication put together a panel of 100 former players and baseball personalities to rank the fifty greatest players in the game today (the full list of the panelists is below). This should be taken as the greatest players right now, not necessarily for the next 10 years.

The issue will feature Yogi Berra talking about Derek Jeter and Whitney Ford on Mariano Rivera. The Mets had the most players on the list with 6, followed by the Yankees at 5.

Here's the list:

1. Albert Pujols, Cardinals
2. Alex Rodriguez, Yankees
3. Johan Santana, Mets
4. Manny Ramirez, Dodgers
5. Hanley Ramirez, Marlins
6. Chase Utley, Phillies
7. Roy Halladay, Blue Jays
8. Derek Jeter, Yankees
9. Mariano Rivera, Yankees
10. Chipper Jones, Braves
11. Ryan Howard, Phillies
12. Grady Sizemore, Indians
13. David Wright, Mets
14. Justin Morneau, Twins
15. Jimmy Rollins, Phillies
16. Josh Beckett, Red Sox
17. Mark Teixeira, Yankees
18. Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox
19. Tim Lincecum, Giants
20. Evan Longoria, Rays
21. Lance Berkman, Astros
22. Jose Reyes, Mets
23. Carlos Beltran, Mets
24. Ian Kinsler, Rangers
25. Zack Greinke, Royals
26. Josh Hamilton, Rangers
27. Alfonso Soriano, Cubs
28. Miguel Cabrera, Tigers
29. CC Sabathia, Yankees
30. Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners
31. Brandon Webb, Diamondbacks
32. Ryan Braun, Brewers
33. Dan Haren, Diamondbacks
34. Francisco Rodriguez, Mets
35. Matt Holliday, A’s
36. Kevin Youkilis, Red Sox
37. Vladimir Guerrero, Angels
38. Jake Peavy, Padres
39. Joe Mauer, Twins
40. Carlos Quentin, White Sox
41. Jason Bay, Red Sox
42. Chad Billingsley, Dodgers
43. Cliff Lee, Indians
44. Torii Hunter, Angels
45. Victor Martinez, Indians
46. Roy Oswalt, Astros
47. Carlos Delgado, Mets
48. Carlos Zambrano, Cubs
49. Cole Hamels, Phillies
50. Brian McCann, Braves

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CC Sabathia usually doesn't require much run support, but the Yankees gave it to him tonight, allowing him to retire after seven innings, earning his fourth win en route to a 9-1 Yankees victory over Baltimore on Tuesday night.

Both teams scored in the first inning. The Orioles Aubrey Huff had an RBI ground out to put the Orioles up 1-0. But, the Yankees came right back with an A-Rod two run homer, scoring Johnny Damon, to grab a 2-1 lead. But, then the bats fell silent as CC and the O's Brad Bergesen threw down from that point forward.

CC allowed just one hit after the first inning, including five 1-2-3 innings. And Bergesen matched him from the second to the sixth, allowing just one hit and his own and throwing four 1-2-3 innings. However, the bottom of the seventh is where it all fell to pieces for Baltimore.

After Hideki Matsui grounded out to lead off, Bergesen walked Nick Swisher and Robinson Cano. Chris Ray entered to try to stop the threat, but he only made it worse. After a Melky Cabrera single loaded the bases, Francisco Cervelli reached on a fielder's choice, driving in Swisher.

Derek Jeter busted it open with a two RBI double that scored three runs thanks to a throwing error that allowed Cervelli to score. Jeter moved to third on a passed ball and Damon drove him home. Finally, Teixeira cleared the bases with a two run blast. When the dust had settled, it was 9-1 Yankees.

And that is where it would end, after Brian Bruney and Brett Tomko each pitched scoreless 1-2-3 innings of their own. That's seven 1-2-3 innings in all for the Yankees staff on the evening as the team threw a combined 3 hitter with 1 walk and 8 strikeouts. Very nice.

Phil Hughes (1-2, 7.56) will go against Jeremy Guthrie (3-3, 5.31) tomorrow at 7:05 PM ET.

Recap records: Patrick: 12–5, Seamus: 8–8, Andrew: 2–4.

The RiverAveBlues Twitter account mentioned that Edwar Ramirez has been sent down to Triple-A Scranton to make room for the return of Brian Bruney.

Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports that Brian Bruney will be activated today. He last appeared on April 21. When it comes to making room for Bruney, Sam Borden says that, of pitchers on the roster now, Jonathan Albaladejo, Edwar Ramirez and Alfredo Aceves are the only ones with options allowing them to be sent down to the Minors.

As Hoch and Ron Blum of the AP point out, Bruney had an interesting excuse for the injury, which was the 8 and 1/2 minute video review delay that affirmed a Jorge Posada home run on April 19. Bruney continued to throw during the entire period.


I'll agree with Steve Lombardi of WasWatching.com on this one. This is a pretty bad excuse. In baseball, these sorts of varied delays can come up. There could be a disputed call, managers arguing, drama from hit batters, a fan running onto the field, an injury, whatever. Just try to condition yourself better next time, if that was actually the reason.

Hoch also reports that Chien-Ming Wang has a bullpen session today at Yankee Stadium and how he performs will determine the next start in his rehab.

Finally, Borden notes that Brett Gardner is day-to-day with a right shoulder contusion, following his collision at home plate with Twins' catcher Joe Mauer on Sunday.

The Yankees got their first legitimate series sweep of the season (they did take two from the A's, but a game was rained out) as they put down the Twins for the fourth straight game, this time winning by a score of 7–6. The Yanks have now won six in a row and five straight by one run. The victory keeps the Yankees within 4.5 games of division-leading Toronto.

Mark Texeira homered from both sides of the plate, and is now 11 for his last 24 (.458) over his last six games. Alex Rodriguez homered for the third straight game and Melky Cabrera had two hits as did Robinson Cano, who got his average back over the .300 mark.

Andy Pettitte allowed 12 hits in 6 and 2/3, but was able to hold the Twins to just four runs and kept his team in the game. The bullpen had a few hiccups (2 runs in 2 and 1/3), but Phil Coke was finally able to retire the Twins in the 9th after allowing a run in the inning.

Man, this is probably going to be a rough flight out of the Bronx for the Twins. I don't know what can be more demoralizing than going into Yankee Stadium for a four-game series and losing all four by one run, three of them on walk-off hits.

The Yankees will welcome the Baltimore Orioles into the new ballpark for the first time tomorrow night. CC Sabathia will look to dominate the Birds again and he'll be faced by Brad Bergesen. Game starts at 7:05 ET.

Recap records: Patrick: 11–5, Seamus: 8–8, Andrew: 2–4

EDIT: I should note that I made a bit of an oops earlier. I had said that the Yanks won all four games by one run, but in fact A-Rod's walk-off homer was a two-run shot so they won Saturday's game by a score of 6–4.

Steven Jackson, designated for assignment on May 8, has been claimed by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Jackson had been throwing well this season, as he had held a 1.88 ERA in 7 games at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.