Farnsworth Still Haunting Yankees

The New York Yankees managed to get a split out of their series with one of the best teams in baseball, and so all in all it wasn't too bad of an outcome. Unfortunately, Kyle Farnsworth is still Kyle Farnsworth and even if he's playing for a different team, he can still hurt the Yankees.

While pitching only one inning for Detroit, Kyle managed to give up 3 runs on 3 hits and helped Tampa beat the Tigers and preventing the Yanks from moving up a game in the AL East.

The Yankees game was certainly a wild one. Edwar Ramirez gave up a grand slam home run to Mark Texiera, allowing 4 runs on 2 hits in a single inning, yet still was awarded the win. Darrel Rasner was pulled after 4 innings of work in favor of long reliever Dan Giese.  I think Ian Kennedy is going to be given another shot at the rotation soon. Sidney Ponson may have stayed his execution another start or so with his last performance, but the hitters seem to be catching up with Rasner on a consistent basis now.

Xavier Nady went 4 for 5 with a home run, Ivan Rodriguez went 2 for 3 and the new Yankee lineup looks like it can definitely put some runs on the board. Still, consistency is the key and the team needs to find a way to avoid those 1-0 losses that seem to pop up every so often.

Yanks Get Pudge

In an effort to shore up the offense in the wake of Jorge Posada's season ending surgery, the Yankees dealt Kyle Farnsworth to Detroit for Ivan Rodriguez. Pudge will instantly improve the offensive production behind the plate compared with Molina and Moeller. Chad will probably be designated again although no one picked him up last time he was on waivers.

The deal makes sense for the Yankees, who have really struggled with the tail end of their lineup. Both Rodriguez and Farnsworth were in the last years of their contracts, so the Yankees didn't really give up a long term player. Kyle had been pitching well lately, but really, how many of you out there really thought professor Farnsworth had turned his game around?

Kyle throws hard and gets hit hard. You never know which Farnsworth is going to show up and he can't be relied on in a clutch situation. Veras and Ramirez have emerged as the core of the bullpen (with Rivera as the obvious closer). Despite a rocky outing recently, David Robertson has been impressive as well. Dan Giese gives another option and can handle the long relief duty. To top it off, newly acquired southpaw Damaso Marte can be extremely versatile, coming in as a situational reliever, or throwing two full innings.

With the bullpen as solid as it is, Farnsworth was easy to let go. Rodriguez should add some instant offense, and should help the team start winning more games right away.

Winning Continues

Sir Sidney Ponson had his stuff again last night and according to him, working with pitching coach Dave Eiland did wonders for his game. Ponson pitched very well and rebounded nicely from his last, sub-par performance. Veras, Farnsworth and Rivera got the job done in relief and Mo had to eek out two innings before the Yanks could score the winning run.

Little by little, the good days outnumber the bad days for Kyle Farnsworth and his season numbers are actually decent. The Yankees are still looking to acquire a reliever via a trade, but Krazy Kyle might just be better than what's available. The rub is that I still can't trust Farnsworth to deliver in the clutch, no matter what the numbers say. I've seen too many balls go sailing over the wall to ever put my faith in Professor Farsnworth in a critical situation. Mariano Rivera, sure. Kyle, no.

Jose Veras' numbers look even better and other than a couple of bad outings, he's been fairly solid.

Brett Gardner got one hit in five at bats, bringing his average up to .143. The Stache paid off again for Giambi, who had a critical RBI to give the Yankees their first run of the game, allowing Jeter to score. Even Joe Girardi was sporting a fake mustache for his post game interview. That was a very un-Torre like move, but I liked it. It's good to bond with the team a bit and show a little sense of humor.

The Yankees have taken two games from the team with the best record in baseball, and have shown that they can play as good as anyone in the major leagues. Unfortunately, Boston also won and the Yankees moved closer to first, but didn't gain much ground in the wild card race (although Oakland's loss helps).

A big part of the Yankees lack of success this year in injury. Having Matsui back in the lineup would certainly help the offense, and so far, Brett Gardner is no Johnny Damon. Aside from injuries, oftentimes it seems that the team wasn't playing with a lot of heart or with a real sense of urgency.  Being 6.5 games out of first means it's certainly possible for the Yanks to make a run for the pennant, but looking at their performance over the course of the first half of the season, it still seems unlikely.

Making a big trade or acquisition isn't the answer. Bringing in a new face isn't going to suddenly motivate everyone else to elevate their game. I don't know what the exact answer is, but it needs to come from within each player.

Joba Progress Continues

89 pitches (approximately 55 fastballs) in six full innings of work were logged by the Yankees top pitching star as he continues on his path toward becoming a full time starter. The word is that the next time out, there will be no pitch limit for Chamberlain. He apparently was throwing in the mid to high nineties even in the sixth inning. Things are looking good right now for Joba and the real test will come down the road at the end of the season, where it remains to be seen if he can stay healthy and productive.

Chamberlain struck out two and walked four, and needs to work on efficiency on the mound when he's starting. All three Yankee youngsters, Hughes, Kennedy, and Chamberlain have had a tendency to get worked deep into counts and have hefty pitch counts.

Jose Veras got the win and was the go-to guy in the set-up role. In a shocking move, Girardi used Farnsworth as a closer to hold down the one run lead in the ninth inning. I don't know if this means Joe still does have ultimate faith in the dicey Farnsworth, or that he just felt bad for not having played the guy in a while. Personally, I've got Veras penciled in as my set-up guy and Ramirez as my alternate closer when you need to give Rivera a night off.

Jose Molina, Robinson Cano and Wilson Betemit are batting .216, .217, and .218 respectively. It will be interesting to see what the Yankees do catcher-wise next year, when Cervelli will hopefully be healthy again and Chad Moeller remains an option. Robinson Cano is trade bait in my mind. Perhaps some desperate team thinks he's got potential and can actually get him to listen to a pitching coach. Betemit is the caliber of a bench player on the Pittsburgh Pirates. I'd cut or DFA him as soon as possible and get Alberto Gonzalez back. Then again, if you read this blog on occasion, you already knew that.

Kudos to Derek Jeter for his timely home run that put the Yanks on top.

Blown Leads Prove Costly

Andy Pettite and the Yankees offense had an up and down night. The hitters would put a lead up and Andy would take it down. Pettitte worked through 7 complete innings and allowed 5 runs (4 earned). He had a lead several times but would end up getting hit and blowing it.

Kyle Farnsworth didn't fare much better. He came into the game in a tie game and proceded to give up 3 quick hits and 1 run. It's painful to watch Kyle pitch at times. He puts the ball right over the plate and it get hits deep. Repeatedly. Day in and day out. I really don't know what Girardi sees in this guy. Sure, he throws hard and can get that fastball cooking, but Farnsworth has the most hittable 97 mph fastball in all of baseball. The faster he throws it, the further into the stands it goes.

The good news is that Joba is going to get the start tonight in New York, and that should give fans something to watch.

The Yankees had some decent offense last night, although they left 10 runners on base. Giambi continues to hit solidly and is definitely out of the slump. Robbie Cano shows us that he can't hit and he can't field any more. Chad Moeller continues to hit just above .250 and will most likely stick with the team for a while even after Posada gets back, as he has proved to be a valuable backup.

In the press conference after the game, Girardi sounded ticked off and upset. Maybe it's about time for another behind closed doors meetings with the players. As a whole, this team is not playing up to it's potential. The biggest personnel decision has to be for the setup man. Farnsworth was never 8th inning material. He didn't all of a sudden change when Girardi took over the team. Joe and Cash need to realize what they've got, and find a better solution. Maybe they need to bring in someone from outside or maybe they need to re-evaluate their own talent (Edwar Ramirez anyone?) and make a change.

Back Above .500

It took extra innings, but the Yankees toughed out an exciting win last night. The winning pitcher? Ross Ohlendorf. Joe Girardi brought Ross to pitch the 10th and 11th innings and the struggling reliever walked 2, gave up 2 hits, and struck out 4 all the while allowing no runs. Granted Joe didn't have a lot of other options, but it looks like he's still got faith in the young pitcher.

Notably absent in both Friday and Saturday's games was LaTroy Hawkins, who looks to be in the doghouse and won't be called on in close spots. Kyle Farnsworth, on the other hand, has been brought in two nights in a row. The YES announcers commented on how Torre never used to use Kyle two days in a row and were hesitant as to how he'd perform. On Friday he gave up a quick run to close a 2-run lead to a 1-run lead. Last night he quickly got all three batters out.

Veras and Ramirez both continue to look good and are the heart of the Yankees middle relief right now. I'd take either of them over Farnsworth in the set-up role, but Girardi has been a longtime Farnsworth fan and that doesn't look like it's going to change any time soon.

Neither of the starters looked particularly sharp, but both Wang and Mussina managed to get through the bulk of the innings with the score close, and sometimes, that's all you can ask.

Bobby Abreu has been the offensive star the last two games, going 2 for 5 and then 3 for 4.

There has been a bit of sloppy play lately, and errors and bad plays that could be scored as errors are starting to creep into the mix more and more. Alex Rodriguez got picked off of second base after stealing it, and a similar thing happened to Derek Jeter a few days back. Last night's game had an errant throw by Jeter that cost the team a run and the night before Shelley Duncan had an error.

Shelley Duncan is a fun guy to watch. He brings a great deal of enthusiasm to the game and is good for bench morale. Unfortunately, he really hasn't improved his game much over the last year. He's hitting .161 and is playing average defense at best. He really hasn't turned out to be much of an improvement defensively over the lumbering Giambi and hasn't come close to the offensive production, despite the fact that Giambi was in a huge slump.

I like Shelly and would like to see him stick around, but he's got work to do. He might last a bit longer than Ensberg, but he's going to have to start bringing something more to the table if he wants to be successful in the big leagues.

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.

Kyle Farnsworth: Another Look

I've been pretty down on Farnsworth most of the season. Historically he's been a bit of a disaster for the Yankees. I'm starting to come around to him a bit lately.

First of all, almost everything I read and hear about him from the mainstream sports media says that he's a great guy in person; a very likeable and friendly guy. It's hard to really stay down on a nice guy.

Farnsworth's pitching has been very good of late. Girardi has put him in for a few single inning appearances and he has delivered. In today's game, the Farns was getting ahead in counts, throwing strikes right out of the gate and looking relaxed and in command on the mound.

The historical criticism of Farnsworth has been that his stuff doesn't work. He throws hard fastballs in the nineties, but can be very hittable at times, not getting much action on the ball. Farnsworth was on target with his fastball today and was able to establish it early, allowing him to maximize the effectiveness of his slider, sinker and change up later on.

With two outs and two strikes the fans got on their feet and Kyle delivered. It was a great moment for the beleaguered pitcher. I think the Yankee fans will quickly let Kyle back into their hearts if he continues to perform like this. I just hope they won't turn too ugly if he does have a setback and get hit hard again.

I think Farnsworth is bound to get shelled every now and then, but if he can continue to pitch like he is, challenging hitters and getting his fastball working, he could be a dependable set up man. I like the idea of using Farns for only one inning, as too many at bats might start giving opposing hitters a good look at Kyle's stuff.

Historically he hasn't been any worse in two innings compared to just one, but I like limiting Farnsworth to just one inning.

Rasner Makes Strong Case to Stay

Darrel Rasner pitched well in his 2008 major league debut. Rasner landed in trouble early and gave up 2 runs in the first inning on a single and a 2 run home run. After that he got 3 quick outs in the second inning, pitched out of a jam with 2 on in the fourth and went 1, 2, 3 in the fifth inning. His total numbers were 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 4 SO, 1 HR, 76-49 Pit-Str.

I don't know what kind of roster shuffling we're going to see in the next few weeks, but I hope we get to see more of Rasner. With a few days off this month the Yankees could get by with four starters, but I have a feeling we'll see Igawa getting a few starts.

I'm a bit surprised Girardi didn't let Rasner throw a seventh inning, but the Yankees have nine guys in the bullpen and Joe had plenty of fresh arms to finish the last three innings of the game.

Ross Ohlendorf gave up 1 hit and no runs, as did Kyle Farnsworth. Mariano Rivera wasted little time getting the last three batters out in order.

I don't remember ever seeing Rivera pitch this well. He's just dominating as a closer.

The Yankees had plenty of offense. Derek Jeter had 4 hits and brought his average up to .313. Melky Cabrera had a nice 2 run home run and was followed by a solo shot from Robinson Cano. Cano went 1 for 4 and Giambi went 0 for 2 with a sacrifice fly. Bobby Abreu had 3 hits and drove in a run. The team LOB was 8, which is a respectable number, but could be a little better.

The big picture

This was a very good win for the Yankees and should do a lot to settle down restless fans (I can't be the only one). Darrel Rasner made a strong case to stay in the rotation or to serve as a long reliever. The Yankees offense came alive, delivering the type of scoring that makes you worry less about your pitchers.

The bullpen guys have looked good for a few days now. Ross Ohlendorf and Kyle Farnsworth both looked in control, throwing strikes and getting ahead in counts. I get the feeling Joe has a lot of confidence in these guys as long as he can limit them to one inning.

2009 Free Agents

Just for kicks I thought I'd take a look at who will become a free agent at the end of the season. I'm listing all the important Yankees, and a few non-Yankees of interest.

First Base:

Jason Giambi*

Third Base:

Morgan Ensberg

Outfielders:

Bobby Abreu

Starting Pitchers:

Mike Mussina

Andy Pettitte

Relief Pitchers:

Kyle Farnsworth

LaTroy Hawkins

 

At first base, Mark Texiera will become available, and at 28 still has quite a few good years left in him. Several of the Yankees are getting a bit old at their position and might want to consider sliding over to first (Jeter, Posada). I don't see any way Giambi gets re-signed and wouldn't be surprised to see him get traded or cut if he continues to struggle. Also in the wings is Shelley Duncan, the utility OF/1B who has shown promise in the minor leagues but hasn't hit well in the majors this year.

Morgan Ensberg is more of a utility guy for the Yankees right now, and could get a better offer from someone else who wants to make him a starter. He is nice to have around, and currently adds more value to the team than Giambi. There are always youngsters like Eric Duncan and veterans like Cody Ransom ready to step in.

Bobby Abreu is an afterthought at this point. The Yanks already have too many outfielders and unless they trade someone, there's no need to keep Abreu around. Damon, Cabrera and Matsui can handle the job and guys like Duncan and Brett Gardner can fill in and you still have Tabata in the wings.

Mussina will likely be gone, Pettitte might sign on for another year if he holds up but the Yankees are going to need someone to fill in at least one spot. Assuming everything works out and Joba, Ian and Phil all come around as productive starters, Wang will still be an ace and then you've got one spot to fill. If Pettitte comes back you've got 5 but that's a lot of if's. Especially the way the staff is struggling right now, it wouldn't surprise me to see the Yanks pick someone up this year and then only re-signing Pettite if someone else doesn't work out.

I can't see the Yankees keeping Farnsworth around, despite Girardi's fascination with the hittable reliever. Hawkins is definitely gone. By next season Bruney should be healthy again and you've got Albaladejo,  Ohlendorf, Betances, Melancon and Patterson ready to take over.

There's a chance another minor league guy could be ready to try starting in the bigs. Darrel Rasner has been pitching well in the minors, but I see him as more of a long reliever. Jeff Marquez and Daniel McCutchen will get their shots eventually.

The Yankees have a lot of prospects that could play a role on next year's team. It would be hard to justify signing an overpriced veteran on the decline to a big contract when you've invested so much into bringing the young talent along. Then again, we're talking about the Yankees here, who am I kidding.

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!

Farnsworth Clutch?

David Appelman over at the Baseball Analysts seems to think so and has the math to prove it. Appelman took a look at various pitcher perfomances in high leverage index situations versus other situations. Leverage index is a way of measuring the importance of a particular situation based on inning, outs, score and runners. David then looked at pitchers' FIP or Fielding Independent Pitching, a statistic that just looks at things a pitcher controls (HR, BB, HBP, K) and eliminates those which involve his team's defense.

The gist of the article is that the author looked at FIP in high leverage situations compared to all other situations, and tallied up which pitchers did significantly better in high leverage or clutch situations. Appelman collected data over the last six seasons and found that Kyle Farnsworth was the 8th best clutch reliever.

It's a fun look at some wacky stats, and in the end is completely useless. Appelman himself noted that the data don't hold up from year to year, which tells me the basic principles of this measurement aren't valid. I don't care for FIP personally, and find it to be a wonky, selective statistic that overlooks what is really important here (things like base hits, doubles, sacrifice flies etc.).

David said he chose FIP because ERA didn't really work. This sounds very fishy. In what way did it not work? You didn't see the names you wanted popping up on the lists? This sounds like a case of the original methods not producing the results desired and so the author tried using different methods until he got the answers he wanted. In other words, selectively choosing data that will produce desired conclusion.

Addendum: David was kind enough to address my comments on the original website and also stopped by here to chime in. He basically explained that with his methodolgy, ERA wouldn't work because high leverage situations (particularly those with runners on base) generally produce more runs than low leverage situations (with no runners or fewer runners) and henceforth ERA would be elevated in those instances. This would skew results somewhat and produce bigger differences. The next question that comes to my mind then is are these differences significant (skewing the results for certain players) or would they be roughly the same for the players involved?

Eric Gagne is also one of the top relievers and I don't think anyone has accused him of being clutch last year.

By comparing high LI situations to all other situations, you don't factor in overall quality. The absolute worst pitcher in baseball could pitch significantly better in high LI situations, but still be worse than most other pitchers in those situations but would rank highly on David's chart.

Let me give a simple example of what I mean. Let's theoretically assign pitchers' abilities a score of 1-10, with 10 being the best.

-You're all star closer could perform at a level of 8 most of the time and a level of 10 in clutch situations, giving a difference of 2. With the methods used in the article, this value of 2 would be used to rank the pitcher.

-Joe average reliever pitches at a level of 5 most of the time and also delivers a 5 in clutch situations, giving a score of 0. This would rank below your all star (who has a 2).

-Now look at your horrendous reliever who normally pitches at a level of 1 but pitches at 4 in clutch situations, producing a difference of 3. Of all the pitchers, this guy would rank the highest with Appleman's methods, despite the fact that even at his best, he's still worse than anyone else.

Sabermetrics is an odd thing. There are a lot of fantastic insights into the game of baseball that have been uncovered by smart stat guys. Unfortunately, a lot of people just crank out stats, graphs and lists of numbers without thinking things through or putting much thought to the practicality of what they're saying.

This article is a fun read, as we can all look at the list, see guys like Farnsworth and Gagne on there, laugh, and say ha ha, I told you that guy was clutch, knowing full well there is little validity to the statement.

While I love sabermetrics, silly articles like this really give it a bad name if taken too seriously.

Addendum: David clarifies that the article was written from a perspective of "disproving clutch" and it has some utility in that respect. He and I differ greatly on our definition of "clutch", which is a big source of my frustration with some of this article's basic premises.

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.

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.

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.