The Joba Plan Continues

Joba pitched 2 innings and threw 40 pitches in an effort to get stretched out and ready for the rotation. Chamberlain wanted to come in for a third inning but Joe Girardi held him back and sent in Farnsworth instead. I'm a bit surprised that Joe didn't march him out to face at least one more batter, but I guess this is going to be a slow process, gradually increasing the pitch count.

Mike Mussina barely held on to a lead and ended up getting the win. The Farns had another off day, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits including a home run. It's really hard having a guy like Kyle on the team. He can pitch very well and can throw hard, but it seems a lot of hitters just plain have his stuff figured out.  When he's pitching well, he can be dominating, when he's not, he'll give up a lot of runs quickly. The unfortunate heart of the matter is that you cannot count on Kyle to deliver. You can put him in and hope he's having a good day, but there is little day-to-day consistency. There have been rumors that Farnsworth would take over as a setup man when Chamberlain went into the rotation, but I think that would be a horrible role for Kyle. He's more of a "use him whenever you think you can safely get away with it" type of pitcher than a setup man who you expect to be reliable.

Even though he's been iffy lately, I'd rather see a guy like Ohlendorf in the setup role. Veras is doing nicely and could do the job also.

On the other side, Yankee hitters have been coming to life, especially the struggling Cano and Giambi. If they continue to play at their current level for the rest of the season, they will both have respectable numbers. So I ask this: If Giambi and Cano have late season turnarounds and post decent numbers for the season, do you want them back? Giambi's contract is up at the end of the season, I'd still let him go personally. The free agent market for first basemen is looking very tempting with guys like Teixeira coming available.  Robbie Cano seems to make a habit of slow starts and I don't particularly like his fielding, but I'm not sure the Yankees really have any better options coming up through free agency. I would like to see Alberto Gonzalez get a lot more playing time, however and think he could turn out to be an everyday type of player.

Garza Shuts Down Yanks

Matt Garza went 7 innings and didn't allow any runs to score on 5 hits. Andy Pettite gave up 8 hits and 5 runs over 4 innings. The bullpen wasn't as bad for the Yankees, but did help Tampa tack on a few extra runs. Chris Britton gave up 1 hit and 1 run in 2.0 innings while Jose Veras gave up 4 hits and 1 run over 1.2 innings. Edwar Ramirez got the final out of the game.

Alberto Gonzalez is hitting .310 and went 2 for 3. Hopefully he can continue to do well at the plate and open Girardi's eyes to that fact that he's a much better all around player than Betemit.

As a team, the Yankees left 11 runners on base, and won't win many games if they can't drive in those runs.

Ian Kennedy only pitched one inning in his minor league game today and likely will get the start on Friday, in place of the inept Igawa.

I really think Kennedy could have used the benefit of another full start in the minors to help him get his head screwed on straight, but the Yankees don't have many other options when it comes to starting pitchers right now. Kennedy has looked very sharp in AAA and if he can continue to pitch that way up in NY, he'll be a fine pitcher at the back end of the rotation.

What worries me is that Kennedy will get scared again when he returns, won't throw strikes and will revert to trying to paint the corners. When he does this, hitters work him deep in counts and start taking advantage of him. If Ian can come out and throw strikes and challenge the hitters, he should be fine.

Alex Rodriguez's quadriceps hasn't fully healed yet and he'll be out another week.

Thankfully for Yankee fans the Red Sox lost again tonight and so the Bombers remain 4 games back.

Yanks Shut Out In Kansas City

Zack Greinke pitched 8 scoreless innings, giving up 6 hits, striking out 2 and walking 2.

Worried about the game getting rained out, Joe Girardi decided at the last minute to start Brian Bruney, saving Ian Kennedy to come in later or be fresh to start tomorrow. The rain was steady most of the game. Bruney pitched an impressive scoreless 2 innings with 4 Ks, 1 walk and 1 hit. Girardi's strategy was looking fairly smart when Billy Traber came in to pitch a scoreless 3rd inning (1H, 1 SO, 1 BB). Unfortunately Girardi had Kyle Farnsworth factored into his master plan. Farnsworth got through the 4th but then gave up 2 runs in the 5th inning, including a leadoff home run.

Ian Kennedy came in the game in the bottom of the 6th and had trouble right off the bat, giving up 2 runs before getting out of the inning. After the 6th, Kennedy settled down a bit and was scoreless in the 7th and the 8th. In 3 innings of work Kennedy gave up 2 runs on 2 hits with 2 walks and 3 strike outs.

Kennedy looked miserable in his very first outing. Tonight in the 6th it looked like we were going to see more of the same. Kennedy's last two innings were better and he appeared to have settled down a bit. Despite an impressive spring, Ike is struggling in the regular season. Yankee fans just have to hope that he'll straighten himself out before too long. I hate to make decisions on just two outings, but I'm a little worried.

Newsflash: Kyle Farnsworth gives up runs in relief appearances. He's only useful in garbage innings with big leads or huge deficits that you don't expect to overcome. The majority of the bullpen is rock solid. Traber, Bruney, Chamberlain and Rivera are doing amazing out of the gate.

Collectively the Yankees had 8 hits, but the offense was pretty feeble. There were no strike outs for A-rod tonight, who ended up getting two hits. The bomber bats couldn't string together enough consecutive hits to put any runs on board.

Melky Cabrera cost the Yanks a run with some poor baserunning. A ground was hit by Alberto Gonzalez toward the second baseman Grudzielanek. Melky should have stopped in his tracks, forcing Grudz to throw either chase and tag, throw to 2nd for the force or throw to 1st. Instead Melky decided to trot right into the tag, giving Grudzielanek plenty of time to also throw to 1st to complete the double play. Damon's hit afterward could have driven in a runner on 2nd or could have advanced a runner on 1st to 3rd.

It's going to be a long season if the Yankees bats don't start heating up. The inconsistent starting pitching needs lots of runs to back it up and so far the Pinstripers aren't giving enough run support.

Jose Molina went 1 for 4 and made a nice thow to third to catch Gathright attempting to steal. That was the first time the speedy Gathright has been caught all year. Molina also threw out Alex Gordon trying to steal second.

Alberto Gonzalez went 1 for 3 in his first major league appearance of 2008, hitting a nice stand up double.

Ensberg's Mysterious Injury

The Yankees no longer have to worry about how to make room for Alberto Gonzalez on the roster. With Jeter being out a few games, Alberto was called up to fill in at short stop. Fortunately for the Yankees, Morgan Ensberg suddenly developed a problem with his left ankle and will have to go on the 15 day DL. This conveniently makes room for Gonzalez without having to option Shelley Duncan back down to the minors.

Molina is scheduled to catch tonight. Posada has not been placed on the DL with his sore shoulder and will be available as a back up catcher if the need arises.

This scoop was reported by Peter Abraham over at the LoHud Yankees Blog.

Edit: It turns out that this rumor was completely false. I feel like I've been Rick Rolled. Abraham is relaying that Shelley Duncan did indeed get optioned down to AAA.

Brian Bruney is getting the start in place of Ian Kennedy.