Yanks Sweep; Mets Stumble; Rangers Signing

Couple updates to get to on the blog today:

The Yankees edged out the Twins 6-4 at the Metrodome yesterday to complete the three-game road sweep and the seven-game season series sweep of Minnesota. The Twins have to be wondering what it would take for them to beat the Yankees.

Alfredo Aceves got the start and wasn't that great, but the bullpen did a great job for him. Outside of David Robertson's three walks, the combo of Albaladejo, Coke, Hughes, and Rivera combined for 4.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K. That's pretty impressive once again. The big story offensively was Mark Teixeira ending his homer drought with a shot to left in the 5th. It was his first dinger in 96 at-bats.

Overall, a solid sweep for the Yankees who have won 3 in a row, 6 of 7, and 13 of 15. They begin a 3-game series in Anaheim against the Angels before the All-Star break.

As for the Mets, they continued to be the Mets of 2009. They lost 11-2 yesterday to the Dodgers and lost 2 of 3 to LA at Citi Field. The Mets were outscored 23-7 in the series, showing minimal offense at the plate and poor starting pitching.

Livan Hernandez was terrible yesterday in starting, lasting just 4 innings. Here are the starters' lines for the three games for the Mets:
Mike Pelfrey - 3.0 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 4 K
Oliver Perez - 5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 7 BB, 2 K
Livan Hernandez - 4.0 IP, 11 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

That's pretty terrible, and somehow, they still won a game. No one expected the Mets' depleted offense to put up much against the MLB-best Dodgers, but the pitching might have been the bigger issue this week. However, the offense was still lacking outside of Tuesday, and the Mets didn't even face Chad Billingsley.

The Reds come to Citi Field for 3 games this weekend. Cincy's 2 games under .500, so it's a chance for the Mets to win some games, especially with Santana and Nieve pitching, and gain some confidence back.

Finally, the Rangers made some news by signing Ales Kotalik to a three-year deal. He will earn an average of $3-million a year. The signing basically signals the likely end of Nik Zherdev in a Rangers uniform.

I think this is a fairly good signing for the Blueshirts, but nothing amazing. They got a guy who can do an average job and can score some goals, but nowhere near that of Alex Tanguay, who I think would have been better. However, the Rangers don't need to go out and spend a ton of money on a guy and risk him being a failure. In addition, it was clear they wanted Zherdev out, and Kotalik could fill in nicely for him. It doesn't seem like much risk for the Rangers, but could prove to be a good reward if he does well by reuniting with former teammate Chris Drury.

Not much else going on right now. Check out the post above which will have the pitching match-ups for the Yankees and Mets for their final series before the All-Star break. I'll also update during the day if any other big news pops up.