With the MLB Draft just days away (June 6th), it’s time to get started. The Yankees have four of the first 102 picks in the draft!

Here’s MLB.com’s Draft Home and ESPN.com’s Draft Home.

Both of the Mock Drafts from these sites have the Yankees taking HS RHP Gerrit Cole with the 28th overall pick.

ESPN.com’s Keith Law: Cole is a top-half-of-the-round talent, but his bonus demands are expected to be large, and whispers about his makeup started when he signed with Boras. The Yankees aren’t afraid of any of those things.

MLB.com’s Jon Mayo: There’s been a lot of talk about the Yankees repeating — in a way — what they did in last year’s Draft by taking an injured college pitcher with their first-round pick. In this case, it would be Fresno State’s Tanner Scheppers. That shoulder injury is so unusual, though, that it could scare any team off. So could Cole’s supposed price tag, but the Yankees can obviously afford to negotiate with the Boras advisee. There’s no doubt about Cole’s arm strength and he can crank it up into the upper 90s. New York is a team that can definitely wait to let the rest of his game catch up to the velocity.

Click here for Cole’s scouting video.

I’m usually against taking High School players in the first round, but taking a guy who is 10th on KLaw’s top 75 at 28 is nothing I’d complain about.

The Yankees are coming out with an “Essential Games of Yankee Stadium” DVD with this being the last year at Yankee Stadium. The cool thing about it is that they are letting the fans pick the games. Click here to vote (Pick 5 games, one from each era: 1970-89, 1990-99, 2000-08).

Here are my picks:

5. 1976 ALCS Game 5: Chris Chambliss hits a walk-off homer to send the Yankees to the World Series and is mobbed on the field.

4. July 1, 2004: The Dive. Derek Jeter dives in the stands to catch a Trot Nixon pop up, ends up bloody and leaves the game. ARod plays SS, Sheffield plays 3B and John Flaherty hits a walk-off 2B.

3. 2001 World Series Game 4: Tino Martinez ties the game on a two-strike, two-out homer in the bottom of the ninth. After the clock strikes midnight, Jeter hits a walk-off homer to right and is crowned Mr. November.

2. 2003 ALCS Game 7: Grady Little leaves Pedro in, Jorge Posada ties the game. Aaron Boone sends the Yankees to the World Series on a walk-off homer off Tim Wakefield.

1. 1996 World Series Game 6: The game that started the dynasty. Joe Girardi gives the Yankees a lead they won’t give back with a 4th inning triple as they go on to win their first World Series in 18 years.

(AP)

3-for-4, 2 2Bs in 6-5 win.

Dude hit a lot of balls hard Friday, hot streak coming…

Some said it couldn’t be done, but Edwar Ramirez cooled a rally in the 7th, The Farns made one terrible 0-2 pitch and worked a relatively easy 8th, and Mo continued his domination in the 9th.

A bullpen without Joba, quite a concept, no? I can’t wait to see a rotation WITH Joba (Get pumped for Tuesday!).

Why, Joe? What about this guy?

Also, with Veras’ control where it is (P-S: 9-3) and LaTroy Hawkins doing his thing, the Yanks should call-up this guy.

rogerlamarque (brooklyn): Over/under: Yankees 90 wins?

Joe Sheehan: Over. They’re at .500 with 2/3 of a roster. (Source)

TRENTON - Thunder right fielder Jose Tabata was yanked from tonight’s game against visiting New Hampshire in the fifth inning for unspecified disciplinary reasons.

Suspended three games by the Yankees for leaving Waterfront Park following an April 26 strikeout that dropped his batting average below .200, Tabata was expelled from the dugout and was seen sitting in front of his locker as the Fisher Cats grabbed a 4-3 lead in the eighth inning on a two-run home run by Aaron Mathews. (Source)

Well, at least he hasn’t thrown a bat at the ump yet..

Gary Thorne is the play-by-play announcer for the Baltimore Orioles. If you have Extra Innings or MLB.tv (like me), then you can understand why I’m very happy this three game series is over.

Here are some of Thorne’s comments on Yankees RHP Joba Chamberlain from Wednesday’s game:

Joba has not started a game in the minors or the majors.

Really? According to baseball-reference, Joba started 15 games in 2007. Do they have the internet in Baltimore yet, Gary? Are they getting ESPN soon?

Seriously, though, how is Thorne in any position to comment on the Joba situation if he is following it so sparingly that he didn’t even know that Joba was a starter in the minors last year?

The Yankees do not have a replacement for Joba in the 8th inning. Kyle Farnsworth will get the job, but…

From this comment, it looks like he has been following the situation. Still, every baseball media member says Kyle Farnsworth can’t even sit in the bullpen without blowing the lead, maybe it’s just in Thorne’s DNA.

He doesn’t look consistent in his mechanics AT ALL.

This is the one that does it for me. Look, Gary, why even bother saying something like this? We know you don’t have the first clue about pitching mechanics and so do you. Gary, your a play-by-play guy, I understand it isn’t your job to be a former pitching coach. But, I’ll call you out on it if you decide to pretend to know what your talking about when you knock Joba’s mechanics.

Here is an excerpt from an article on The Hardball Times  (By: Carlos Gomez) comparing Chamberlain and Phil Hughes on mechanics from last year (it never mentions anything about Joba not being able to repeat his delivery):

Assuming that Joba can keep his weight under control (it looks like he’s in better shape), right now, from a mechanical efficiency point-of-view, the choice is clear. Give me the quick tempo, momentum-building, aggressive pitcher who struck out almost 14 batters per nine innings in the minors this year. Joba Chamberlain is my pick.

I’m not one that likes to tout people on the internet writing about pitching mechanics, but Gomez is infinitly more credible on mechanics than Thorne.

(AP)

It doesn’t get any better than this:

23 IP 11 HA 1 R 1 ER 1 BB 21 K

(AP)

2-for-3, BB, HR in 4-2 win.

Now hitting: .244/.393/.556

PeteAbe:

Then with the bases loaded and no outs in the 11th he manages to ground into the 4-2-5 double play. “Stick your glove out, make a lucky catch and get two out of it,” he said afterward.

Lucky? He hit the hard grounder right at an infielder, the one thing you couldn’t do. Striking out would have been less damaging.

That double play was his fault? He crushed that pitch! Did you watch the game?

Was Jeter getting picked off with two outs in the sixth also ARod’s fault? How about the rain? Wanna blame him for that too?

“Shelley’s effort has been tremendous,” Girardi said. “He’s going to get a lot of playing time against lefties, that’s the bottom line with Shelley.” (Source)

Why? He’s hitting: .211/.279/.342 in 43 PA vs. LHP.