Yankees Notes: AL East, Swisher, De La Rosa, and Jay-Z and Eminem

It’s been pretty harsh watching the Yankees these days, but like I said the other day, if they are blowing games because of the likes of Chad Gaudin and Sergio Mitre, two players who might not even be on the playoff roster, it’s hard to kill them over it. Those aren’t the only mistakes, but if the offense were clicking it’s hard to imagine that they would be doing this badly.

Here are some notes:

• Joe Girardi made some questionable bullpen moves last night. His reasoning for not using his best relievers was simply, “Sometimes you lose a battle to win the war.” Meaning, his pitchers were tired, and he didn’t want to wear them out and leave them unavailable later in the season.
• With the way the standings look now, the AL East winner will face the Texas Rangers and the Wild Card winner will face the Minnesota Twins. The Yankees might be better off against the Twins. So winning the Wild Card might not be terrible.
• Nick Swisher has been dealing with knee issues since August and will go for his second MRI today.
• Wilkin De La Rosa, the 25-year-old lefty reliever that they DFA’d last week, has cleared waivers and will stay with the Yankees.
• Jay-Z and Eminem played at Yankee Stadium last night, here is some info.

The Yankees can’t keep giving away games. They have a comfortable lead now, but they face the Red Sox six more times, and if they let the lead shrink too much than the Sox may be able to take advantage of it.

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