Yankees Close Gap to 9

The Bronx Bombers are on a two game win streak and have closed the lead in the AL East to only 9 games, thanks to a gutsy extra innings win yesterday and a blowout today.

Brett Gardner has actually showed a little mettle the last two days, getting some key hits and helping the team. Melky hasn't been missed much since getting sent down. Cody Ransom had a pinch hit 2 run homer in his only appearance.

Billy Traber gave up one run in two innings of work and Chris Britton gave up two runs in one inning. Britton just doesn't seem to quite be able to play at the level the Yanks need him to, but he's awful close and gets repeatedly called up. He is still leaps and bounds better than Damaso Marte, who has been awful in pinstripes.

It's hard to get excited about two wins when you are this far back and the up and down season makes me think that after a few wins we'll quickly fall back into another slump. Still, it's good to see a win. It's also good to see some of the guys just brought up doing well and getting some experience.

Traber Sent Down, Duncan Called Up

The Yankees sent Billy Traber back down, not a surprising move given his recent poor outings. Shelley Duncan has been called up and is in the lineup for Saturday's game.

The Yankees no longer have a lefty in the bullpen.

They still don't have a long reliever.

Mussina Showing Trade Value?

The Yanks won 6-4 last night, beating the Chicago White Sox with the help of a good outing by Mike Mussina. Moose toughed out 7 innings, throwing 101 pitches, 66 for strikes. He gave up 4 hits, 2 runs, walked 1 and struck out 3. Mussina got worked deep into counts a few times, but came out and challenged some hitters early, getting ahead on the count and putting himself in the driver's seat. I'm wondering if this very nice performance will give Mussina some trade value, enticing some poor unsuspecting team to pick up the washed up veteran?

The bullpen had some troubles, apparently stunned at not having to come in early with Mussina on the mound. LaTroy Hawkins got the first batter out then couldn't find the plate with his fastball and walked the second batter. Hawkins then gave up a single to Orlando Cabrera and was pulled as Girardi brought in Billy Traber to face the left handed Jim Thome, who lit up Traber with a ground ball single to right. OK, not really, Traber did a fine job and the play was botched by the defensively inept Giambi. The official scorers should credit that earned run to Giambi rather than Yankee pitcers. Having seen enough and with the right handed Konerko coming to the plate, Girardi called for Mo. Rivera allowed one run to score on a sacrifice fly and quickly got the third out by getting Dye to pop one up. Mariano made quick work of three batters in the ninth to finish the game.

Mariano Rivera is on a tear this year. He had me worried at the start of the season last year, but this season, he is an absolute machine.

Guys like Hawkins can't be relied on to reliably get people out in pressure situations. If Girardi left him in, he may have ended up retiring the side without letting a run score, but you'd like to have one or two relievers who can be counted on to get a particular batter out. Hawkins and Traber didn't deliver this time.

Jorge Posada went 4 for 5 and there were no stolen base attempts. As a team the Yankees hit well, but I don't like the 11 LOB. Johnny Damon continues to deliver in the clutch, knocking in 2 runs.

A good win for the Yanks, an encouraging outing from Mussina and some offensive production. If only we could get this every game...

Abreu Grand Slam Propels Yanks to Win

Chien-Ming Wang was getting hit frequently Tuesday night in Chicago, but Bobby Abreu came through with a 2 out grand slam home run.

Wang gave up 10 hits in 6 innings and allowed 3 runs. Many of Wang's pitches that were put into play went deep and were caught on the warning track. In a different ballpark the results could have been much uglier for the Yankees. Chien-Ming's win was the 50th of his career, reached in only 85 games. Dwight Gooden and Ron Guidry reached the 50 mark after 82 games.

The Bullpen was less than stellar today. Billy Traber was only allowed to face one batter, which he walked. Brian Bruney came on and proceeded to load the bases while only getting one out. Finally the Yanks called in Joba Chamberlain to get out of the bases loaded, one out jam. Struck out one batter, walked in a run, and then got the final out on a pop fly fielded by Posada.

To keep things interesting, New York manager Joe Girardi gave every fan watching a scare by brining in Kyle Farnsworth to close out the game. With the Yankees up 5 in the the bottom of the ninth, Farney walked one, gave up a hit, and allowed a run to score before getting the third out of the inning and ending the game.

Bobby Abreu had the biggest clutch hit of the night and put the Yankees on top in the seventh inning. Johnny Damon went 3 for 5 with a home run of his own. Jason Giambi was removed from the game with a swollen thumb after a horrible defensive play at first that should have been scored an error. While Giambi did hit a solo home run, his offensive production is still poor and he remains a huge defensive liability.

Surprisingly there were no stolen bases with Posada behind the plate, and no runners were caught stealing. Yankee pitchers did a good job of keeping runners close to first, but the one or two times runners went early, balls were put into play. I'm surprised that there weren't more attempts to steal, given the vulnerable arm that Jorge has.

The team LOB tonight was 6, a respectable number. If the Yankee bats can get on base and drive runners home like they did tonight, they'll be able to overcome their problems with pitching. Up until now it's mostly been starting pitching, but tonight the bullpen looked particularly vulnerable.

Congratulations to Alex Rodriguez and his wife on the birth of their second daughter.

Competition Notes: The Boston Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels 7-6, and are showing no signs of letting up. This is troubling to Yankee fans because the Sox ace Josh Beckett was scratched from the game. Instead, David Pauley was called up from the minors for the start. Pauley was shelled, giving up 7 hits and 5 runs in 4.1 innings of work. The Boston bullpen held strong, and even Mike Timlin got a batter out as they waited for the offense to come alive in later innings and secure the win. Even with their best starter out, this team finds a way to win. The Yanks will have to wait another day to try and close the gap.

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.

Disappointing Outing For Hughes

Phil Hughes wasn't dialed in today and the quiet Yankee bats did little to help him out. Phil lasted 3 innings, giving up 3 runs on 6 hits, walking 4 and striking out 2. In defense of the Yankee starter, the umpire had an odd and inconsistent strike zone. Phil wasn't able to adjust and had poor control in his limited outing.

Ross Ohlendorf came in and pitched 3, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits. Billy Traber and LaTroy Hawkins each pitched a scoreless inning. Latroy performed a little better than he has previously and perhaps the absence of booing Yankee fans helped.

There were no offensive standouts today and Alex Rodriguez struck out in all 4 appearances at the plate.

The Yankees defense was rather poor today and Kansas City stole 5 bases. Wilson Betemit couldn't handle any of Posada's throws on a couple of pitchouts, and Jason Giambi had trouble getting the ball out of his glove when a runner should have been picked off going from 1st to 2nd. In the late innings Benji Molina had come in and made a nice throw to get Gload attempting to steal 3rd.

Posada left the game with a sore shoulder and might be heading to the DL. The Yankees will be sorely missing his bat.

The Yankees are going to have to put bigger numbers up on the board if they hope to have a chance of winning this season with 4 unpredictable starters (Wang being the only one who has shown consistency).

AL East News: Dice-K was sharp in Boston's 5-0 win over Kenny Rogers and the struggling Tigers. Manny Delcarmen had settled down and pitched 1.1 innings to set up Okajima. Youkilis had 3 hits and 2 RBIs to lead the offense.

Baltimore continues to win with a solid outing from Brian Burres who gave up 1 run in 6 innings of work. Baltimore outscored the Rangers 8-1 and 1st baseman Aubrey Huff went 4 for 4 scoring 1 and driving in 4.

Toronto and Oakland are tied 6-6 in the top of the 6th and Tampa Bay is trailing Seattle, down 4-3.

Bombers Shelled by Rays

A very disappointing outing for some Yankee pitchers. Ian Kennedy got behind in the count on a majority of batters and paid the price. He was unable to challenge the hitters and throw effective strikes. Kennedy lasted just 2.1 innings, giving up 6 runs on 4 hits with 4 walks and 2 strikeouts. He threw 70 pitches for 32 strikes.

I had high hopes for Kennedy this season, hopefully this outing was just a fluke, but I think this is going to be the way Yankee pitching goes this year. You'll get some quality starts and some we'd all rather forget.

The next three relievers performed admirably. Albaladejo, Ohlendorf and Traber combined for 4.2 (2.2, 1, and 1 respectively) innings of 2 hit ball. What I don't understand is why Thompson didn't leave one or two of them in for another inning.

Instead we were left with Hawkins coming in to pitch the 8th. Hawkins looked good on paper and did well in the spring but hasn't delivered the goods early on in the regular season. He only got 2 outs tonight giving up 6 runs on 6 hits. Maybe the fans are getting to him with their booing him for wearing the number 21.

To cap things off Farnsworth came in with 2 outs in the 8th inning and pitched the rest of the game. By the numbers he pitched 1.1 innings, gave up 3 hits, 1 run, no walks and struck out 3. The very first batter he faced hit a 3 run home run. Fortunately for Farnsworth the official stats don't credit him with 2 of those runs, but a manager can't rely on a guy who comes into a game in relief and gives up home runs.

Yankee hitting was pretty sparse and they're going to have to step it up a notch to keep this pitching staff afloat.

Quite a frustrating game all in all. Giving up 7 runs in the 8th inning isn't going to produce too many wins. A starter who is having a bad outing can be replaced with a long reliever, but you need to be able to rely on your bullpen to get batters out.