And so, at about noon today, the first domino fell.

Manny Banuelos, Jack Curry reported, had been promoted to Scranton. Manny didn't know about it. Tony Franklin didn't know about it. Frankly, it seemed as if Curry was the only one outside of the Yankees braintrust who knew about it at all.

Then the game was played (a 5-0 Thunder loss) and everything became clearer. Banuelos was in the clubhouse hugging and high-fiving his teammates, packing his things and getting ready for the next step on his journey.

He's scheduled to make his Triple-A debut Tuesday against Lehigh Valley, where (I think) he'll match up against Scott Mathieson, a guy I root for because he's survived two Tommy John surgeries.

It seems as if everyone around here was waiting for Banuelos to go on a hot streak, after which we assumed he'd get the bump. That streak never really came (although his last start was quite good), but the Yankees thought he'd improved enough to be tested at the next level.

With Scranton, Banuelos will be plugged into a rotation that features Adam Warren, Andrew Brackman, D.J. Mitchell, Lance Pendleton and Greg Smith (it appears that Banuelos will take Smith's slot).

I'll be at Scranton on Tuesday, so expect plenty of stuff from the young man's Triple-A debut.