Joba Loses

Joba Chamberlain is not invincible in the bullpen as some have come to believe, and proved it in the Yankees 7-6 loss to the Chicago White Sox. The young star gave up the winning run in the ninth inning and was credited for the loss.  Maybe now some people will stop perseverating about how dominant he is as a late reliever and how he needs to stay in the bullpen.

That's not going to happen, but I can dare to dream right?

For the record, I'm a huge Joba fan and think he'll be an all star pitcher for many years with the Yankees. Giving up 1 run on 2 hits in 1.1 innings of work. Stuff happens and even the best pitchers get hit once in a while, so lets just hope this doesn't get into Joba's head too much. "I give up hits and that's the way it's going to be. I let my team down," said Chamberlain after the game.

The story of the night was the Yankee pitchers and the tragedy that surrounded each of them.

Phil Huges looked much better in his first 2 innings, giving up only 1 hit and no runs. In the first inning he threw quite a few pitches and worked into a few deep counts but in the second inning he ripped through the opposing batters. In the middle of the third inning the rain came again and after the significant delay, Joe Girardi and Dave Eiland decided to pull Hughes in favor of Ross Ohlendorf, who apparently they think is a long reliever.

Ross Ohlendorf has a lot of talent and could turn into a very  successful reliever in the major leagues, but the longer he pitches, the less effective he is. Ross' velocity and stuff as a starter was always a step down from his stuff as a reliever, where he'd come in and throw harder with more movement. This season he's had some nice 3 inning outings, but last night he came undone after one. The first inning Ohlendorf pitched beautifully, but the second he came out flat and got tagged. In the end Ross gave up 5 runs on 5 hits in 2 innings.

I didn't like Joe Girardi's decision not to have a long reliever on the team out of Spring training and it continues to hurt the team. Darrel Rasner is pitching extremely well in the minors and deserves a chance to come up. He's the guy you want to bring in to relieve Hughesey, Ike, or Moose if they need to come out early. A long reliever will eat up a bunch of innings, hopefully keeping the game close until you can bring in your closer. As much as I like Ohlendorf, he's definitely not long reliever material.

LaTroy Hawkins was decent, giving up 1 run in 2 innings of work. Kyle Farnsworth pitched a scoreless inning until slipping off the mound and hurting his right elbow. Kyle said he hoped to be back in action on Friday.

Brian Bruney didn't pitch this game but apparently sprained his foot or ankle on Wednesday night while attempting (unsuccessfully) to cover first base. Bruney will likely go on the DL so that another pitcher can be brought up. The Yankees have been using their bullpen heavily and need some fresh arms.

Jason Giambi had a decent hitting night going 2 for 4, but remains a defensive liability. He botched a simple 5 foot toss to Hughes who was running to cover first. Thankfully the athletic pitcher was able to reach down low and scoop the ball in time, but there is no excuse for that kind of sloppy play, especially when you have guys like Ensberg and Duncan available.

The Yankees will be making some moves today, putting people on the DL and calling up relievers from the minors. Now might be the time Chad Moeller gets sent back down since Molina and Posada both appear to be healthy. If so, once again, congratulations Chad on doing an outstanding job of filling in!

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.

Bruney Gets Bad Weather Start

Ian Kennedy was scheduled to start tonight's game, but come time to throw out the opening pitch, Brian Bruney is announced as the starter.

Apparently there was rain in the forecast and Joe Girardi did not want to start Ian Kennedy only to have the game get rained out early. Instead, he is starting Bruney who will pitch the opening innings. If the rain passes, Ian will be available to pitch. If the game is postponed, Ian will be ready for the next start. Using Bruney for a few innings doesn't have a big effect on the rotation at all.

Currently in the bottom of the 2nd inning it is raining fairly heavily. There has been no indication that the game will be called or delayed. Many of the fans have left their seats to seek shelter inside.

This is a very unique strategy that we're seeing out of Girardi. There's a certain logic to it. We'll see what the end result is.

Terrific Game for Mussina

Mike Mussina brought his "A" game today, pitching a very solid 6 innings giving up 1 run on 2 hits, struck out 3 and walked 1. Mussina looked in command right from the start. We all know he can pitch extremely well, but you don't always know which Moose is going to show up for a game. Let's hope for more outings like tonight.

Brian Bruney delivered the goods giving up no hits but hitting one batter.

I've done a lot of Farnsworth bashing up to this point and so I'd like to give him the credit he's due. Farnsworth's stuff was working tonight. Kyle retired the side in order, striking out one. He had his fastball coming in at 93 mph, but he pitched a smart game mixing up the sinker, slider, 2-seamer and 4-seamer nicely. Nice job Kyle.

Hawkins was his usual scary self. Fortunately he didn't give up any runs but he put batters on 2nd and 3rd. The fans were quick to boo him when he got in trouble which didn't do anything for his confidence.

This was the type of offensive game you've come to expect from the Yankees. Bobby Abreu had the hot bat, going 3 for 3 with 3 runs and 2 RBIs. He showed some speed churning out a stand up triple. A-Rod, Matsui and Cano all had timely hits to drive in runs.

Derek Jeter strained a quadriceps muscle hustling down the first base line and left the game before the 3rd inning. Wilson Betemit is not the kind of guy you want playing on a long term basis because of his lackluster offense. Hopefully Jeter will be back soon.

Morgan Ensberg got his first hit as a Yankee tonight.

Pettitte Unsuccessful In First Outing

Andy Pettitte couldn't quite deliver the goods in his first appearance of the 2008 regular season. The day started well with a warm reception from the fans despite the offseason HGH/steroid controversy.

The box score tells the tale pretty well. 8 hits and 3 walks in 5 innings is not going to get the job done. 5 runs scored but only 3 were earned to deep ball that was dropped by Matsui. Pettitte's control seemed decent (despite hitting Pena twice), but he didn't have enough "stuff" to get the batters out and gave up too many hits. Hopefully he'll revert back to his old self sooner rather than later.

Ohlendorf and Bruney eached pitched two good innings although Ross did give up a single home run. I'm liking these two guys so far this season.

A-Rod had a nice clutch 2 out RBI double to score Damon in the first. Nice to see Rodriguez get a hit when it matters.

The play of the day occurred early on when Jonny Gomes hit what looked like a home run that bounced off the top of the outfield wall and fell into play. Bobby Abreu made a nice play to throw the ball to Jeter who was able to tag Gomes, who had assumed the ball was a homer and was doing a lazy, head down trot. Gomes made up for it later by hitting a 3 run homer.