Originally posted on 03/30/2011:

Justin Verlander is on a mission to improve on his history of poor April performance. Over his career - his April ERA is over 5 and he's 4 games under .500 (7-11). His career ERA in May is well under 3 and he's 10 games over (18-8).

Jim Leyland yesterday: "I have to compliment Justin on trying to take his game to the next level. He's figured things out himself. I give him a lot of credit. He knows what he's doing."

And Leyland knows when a guy has the fire in the belly. I look for Verlander to be ready to deal on Thursday.

Looking at the Yankees - as they are currently configured - I think it's pretty clear that the way you are going to beat them this year is to have your starter out pitch them. You are not going to out slug them. They return with essentially the same llineup that led the majors in runs scored last year. And their 2011 bullpen is stronger with the addition of Soriano. The key is that the value of that great, late bullpen of Soriano/Mariano is significantly neutralized if you win the rotation matchup and they don't have the lead late. There is not enough bullpen (or lineup) in the world to compensate for a weak starting staff. And even with CC out there - keep in mind that he will be facing a couple of new, significant challenges this year - esp early in the season. 1) He has a new pitching coach in Larry Rothschild (changing leagues, coming from the the Cubbies, no less). 2) He has a new catcher in Russell Martin (also coming from the NL). Neither one of these guys is all that familiar with the AL hitters they'll be trying to beat. One should not underestimate the potentially uncertain impact of those changes on even a veteran pitcher.