Rays Beat Yankees

The Rays are having an amazing year and they continued that today against the Yankees, beating us 7 to 1. Their young pitching staff is doing really well and Matt Garza is no exception. He pitched for seven innings today and allowed no runs on five hits. Andy Pettitte on the other hand, wasn’t so solid. He was in the game for only a little over four innings during which he let up five runs on eight hits. He did have five strikeouts, but that really doesn’t matter. He ended up taking the loss, which is the second against the Rays this season. Prior to tonight’s loss Pettitte was an astounding 8-1 at Tropicana Field and 14-3 all-time against the Rays.

The same problems are still there as the Yanks continue to struggle. The offense is still asleep and without run support we really can’t win much. Although the loss today wasn’t completely the offense’s fault, they certainly could have done better.

The team will get another shot against the Rays tomorrow at 7:10EST. Maybe Chien-Ming Wang is just what we need to beat the Rays. Edwin Jackson will suit up for the Rays. The game will be aired on YES.

Game Postponed

The game was postponed due to a lot of rain.

Yankees Beat Tigers, 5-2

Darrell Rasner could be the reliable starter at the bottom of the rotation, which we so desperately need right now. He had another solid performance today, pitching for a little over six innings and allowing only four hits and two runs. As Joe Girardi said, he isn’t doing anything fancy, but he is just simply using his stuff the right way.

Rasner got decent run support with the Bombers’ five runs on nine hits. Derek Jeter broke his home run drought with a two-run blast in the first. Wilson Betemit batted in Robinson Cano in the fourth. The final two runs came in the fifth thanks to Abreu, Jeter, and Giambi.

And with this win we are 19-19 and back to .500 (it seems like I’ve been saying that every other game.) Ideally we can go above the 50% mark tomorrow against the Tigers with Andy Pettitte on the mound. Detroit will counter with Nate Robertson. The game is at 1:05EST and will be aired on TBS.

Close Loss to Tigers

Six runs and eleven hits in the first four innings. That is what lost it for the Yanks today. I guess it really isn’t a surprise considering Kei Igawa started, but it still is disappointing. Igawa made him first start of the year today and like most of his big league career, it was a failure. He allowed all six runs the Yanks would give up on the day and left the game with an ERA of 18.00 so far this season. Girardi pulled Igawa in the fourth and after that is was smooth sailing for the Bombers who didn’t allow anymore runs at the hands of Jonathan Albaladejo, LaTroy Hawkins, and Edwar Ramirez.

The offense ended up scoring five runs, one shy of tying up the game. Jason Giambi hit another homer today, which is his 184th with the Yankees, putting him at 16th all-time on the team list. Chad Moeller batted in a run in the seventh and the team got three runs in the ninth.

It will be nice if the late offensive run carries over into the next game. Darrell Rasner, who had an excelent debut this year, will make his second start. Detroit will start with Jeremy Bonderman on the mound. The game is at 3:40EST and will be on FOX.

Moose Wins Fourth Straight

And we’re back to .500. Mike Mussina and the Yankee offense led the the team to victory against the Indians today. Moose is pitching very well so far this season, this being his fourth straight win. He was in the game for five innings and gave up only four hits and three runs. Ross Ohlendorf and Joba Chamberlain would relieve and Mariano Rivera closed. Joba was back to normal today, striking out David Dellucci who hit the homer against him three days ago. Rivera ended and got the save.

The Yankee offense hit well today with 6 runs on 9 hits including 4 home runs (by Damon, Cano, Giambi, and Betemit.) Hideki Matsui continued to his hit streak to 17 games with a single in the bottom of the second.

Tomorrow we start a series against the Tigers. Kenny Rogers will start for Detroit and Kei Igawa will take Ian Kennedy’s spot in our rotation. Kennedy was sent down to the minors after his poor start. Tomorrow’s game is at 7:05EST.

Lee Beats Wang

Chien-Ming Wang dropped his first game of the year today against another undefeated pitcher, Cliff Lee. Nonetheless, Wang still pitched very well and was in the game for seven innings. He allowed five hits and three runs, but that was enough to give Cleveland the victory. Looking at how Lee and Wang have been pitching so far this season, it was predictable that the game would be low-scoring. The final score was 3-0, as the Indians beat us again.

The Yanks are now 3-5 so far on this nine game homestand and we are now 17-18 on the year. Its definetely not the ideal place to be, but there is still a long way to go. There really isn’t much to say about this game other than the pitching was phenomenal and that the Yankee offense seems to be back on the cold streak after the great series against the Mariners.

Maybe they’ll be able to pick it up tomorrow in game three of the series versus the Indians. Mike Mussina will take the mound against Paul Byrd. The game is at 1:05EST and will be aired on YES.