AL East

A few weeks ago I wrote a blurb about Cliff Lee and noted how many innings he was throwing and wondered out loud if it would carry over to next season. As it turns out he didn’t even make it that far before the innings total began to affect him as his back has been acting up.

Yesterday I passed along a story that the Yankees had won a waiver claim for Ted Lilly and may have been pursuing him even though the trade deadline had passed.

The Yankees go for a four-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics tonight and their sixth win overall and have their best man on the job, CC Sabathia.

Here are some notes:

Making a much anticipated start, Dallas Braden will take the hill today against the New York Yankees, making his Yankee Stadium debut in front of the ravenous Yankee Stadium crowd.

Braden, LHP from the Oakland Athletics is having a subpar season individually, going 9-9 with a 3.28 ERA.  

The Boston Red Sox have released journeyman outfielder Jeremy Hermida, according to Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com. As much as Hermida expressed surprise when he was designated for assignment at the end of July, surely his outright release yesterday could be considered a shock.

Hermida's release was confirmed late last night via an online announcement on RedSox.com.

If you haven’t noticed, the young lefty phenom out of Cuba, Aroldis Chapman, finally made his debut for the Cincinnati Reds last night.

According to Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated, when the Dodgers put Ted Lilly on waivers leading up to the trade deadline, the Yankees made and won the claim for the pitcher. Then the Dodgers pulled him off of waivers, and no deal was made.

Today is September 1st and the Yankees are sitting alone in first place. The Rays are just one game back though, and have proven that they will not back down this season. The Yankees are also seven games up on the Red Sox for the Wild-Card lead, but with six head-to-head games left against them, that lead isn’t exactly air-tight. The Yankees also have the toughest schedule of all three teams so nothing is locked in place. Get ready for what could be an exciting month.

Phil Hughes was not at his best tonight, but he had the benefit of a nine run night by the Yankees offense that included homers by Mark Teixeira, Nick Swisher, and

• AL East
• MLB
• New York Yankees