The Texas Rangers dropped the opening game of a four game series to the New York Yankees 7-4 at home on Monday April 23rd . Derek Holland once again showed that he cannot master the Yankees as he saw his regular season record against them fall to 0-5. He simply didn't hit his marks and left too many good pitches right over the plate.

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No New York Yankees fan, including myself, wants to face the possibility that closer Mariano Rivera may be succumbing to the inevitable--his age. Rivera's opening-day catastrophe is alarming in that he lacked movement on his pitches.

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No New York Yankees fan, including myself, wants to face the possibility that closer Mariano Rivera may be succumbing to the inevitable--his age. Rivera's opening-day catastrophe is alarming in that he lacked movement on his pitches. Add in the fact that he allowed booming hits to players he usually dominates, such as Carlos Pena, and it makes New York rooters nervous.

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Phil Hughes had been looking forward to his first start of 2012 since the end of last season, eager to put his dismal 2011 season in the rear-view mirror.

Hughes didn't deliver the type of performance he had hoped for, but given the way his season started a year ago, it was certainly not a bad day for the 25-year-old. Hughes allowed two runs on five hits and two walks in 4 2/3 innings on Sunday as the Rays beat the Yankees, 3-0, taking his first loss of the season.

"I felt good physically," Hughes said. "Early on I felt like I had good stuff, it was just a lot of long, drawn-out at-bats that kind of killed my pitch count today."

Hughes threw 24 pitches in the first, his pitch count swelling to 69 after only three innings.

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The Juice is back for its fifth season of fun! Stop by each weekday for an ample serving of news from the action, plus great photos, stats and video highlights. Red Sox swept again : Detroit Tigers catcher Alex Avila served up a heaping slice of déja vu at Comerica Park on Sunday afternoon, hitting a two-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning off Boston reliever Mark Melancon. The shot gave the Tigers, who had tied the score on Miguel Cabrera's three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth, a thrilling 13-12 victory over the Red Sox and a sweep of the three-game set. You don't have to search your memory banks too hard to recall this sort of early-season angst in New England: Boston started the 2011 season with six straight losses. Avila, who also caught 206 pitches on the day , joked that he was almost too exhausted to get around the bases on his homer. Check out video of his game-ender, plus other highlights:

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San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Ryan Vogelsong is expected to join the Giants' rotation April 15, according to reports. Vogelsong threw 81 pitches over four innings for Triple-A Fresno on Thursday. He will start again next Tuesday against Las Vegas, before facing the...

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Andy Pettitte is one step closer to pitching in the majors again. Pettitte threw a scoreless inning in his first game since ending a one-year retirement and the New York Yankees beat the New York Mets 8-3 on Wednesday. "It felt good to be able to get out there and get the inning in, especially in a big league game" Pettitte said.

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Francisco Liriano was stellar, again. Liriano gave up four hits over five shutout innings in the Minnesota Twins' 6-4 loss to a New York Yankees split squad on Friday. "Pitching is all about location," Liriano said. "I think I've been locating my pitches better than last year. My fastball, change up, slider, everything is working pretty good." Coming off five hitless...

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Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander A.J. Burnett, three weeks after he fractured his right orbital bone, made his third bullpen appearance since the accident. Burnett threw 52 pitches Wednesday and reported no difficulties. "The eye's fine.

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Mariano Rivera makes spring training look like a breeze, Rivera threw his third consecutive scoreless inning in the New York Yankees' 6-3 win over the Houston Astros on Saturday. "I feel good," Rivera said. "Got a little sweat, that was good." Rivera needed just eight pitches to extend his spring training stretch of not giving up an earned run to 24 innings.

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