Accentuating The Positive

The Yankees just got finished getting their tails kicked by the Dev, err, Rays. Ken Singleton summed it up so nicely. It was a rotten game. I watched most of the game in fast forward, zipping ahead to each pitch. The wife is sick so I had to give our 7 month old son his bath, his bottle and then put him to bed. That process starts at about the same time as the first pitch is thrown. I joined the game about 48 minutes late and once I caught up, the wife and I watched this week's "Two And A Half Men." Hey, I've got to give her some TV time on Fridays. After I got done laughing pretty hard (it's a great show), I again zipped ahead through the game and once I was again caught up, it was time to watch "High School Reunion." Yawn. That took about 45 minutes and I got up to the live action just in time to watch them implode in the 8th. It wasn't fun to watch. The negatives definitely outweighed the positives. But there were a few bright spots which I want to make note of.

I mentioned in my recap post from yesterday that "we as Yankees fans should feel pretty comfortable with our bullpen." Tonight, that was half true. Jonathan Albaladejo was awesome. He came in and basically shut the rays down after he gave up a run-scoring double to his 1st batter. He gave the Yankees exactly what they needed. He ate up 2.2 IPs without giving up a run, striking out 4 Rays along the way. He looked pretty sharp throwing 23 of his 36 pitches for strikes. Most importantly he kept the game close. Too bad the bats didn't pick up the slack. It's also too bad he's likely on his way to Scranton. Pettitte comes back tomorrow and I'm pretty sure he's taking Abaladejo's roster spot. That's too bad. He has a lot of promise.

The performances of Ross Ohlendorf and Billy Traber should also be taken as signs of encouragement. Traber had an awesome spring and is showing that his spot on the roster is well-deserved. And I like Ohlie. He has a lot of upside and I hope that Girardi uses him in some tough spots because I think the kid will do a pretty good job when called upon.

Unfortunately, LaTroy Hawkins and everybody's favorite, Kyle Farnsworth, followed a great outing by the aforementioned three and promptly put the game well out of reach by giving up 7 runs between the two of them. It shouldn't have been as bad though because if Matsui caught that fly ball, who knows what would have happened. That ball should have been caught. No excuse for missing that. Thank God Damon is our regular everyday left-fielder because he catches that no problem. But he missed it and that's baseball. Hawkins still should have been able to shut the door and stop the bleeding. But he couldn't, and neither could Farnsworth. He's just as bad as he was last year. Right now, I can only hope that Girardi changes the depth chart of the bullpen and uses Traber and Ohlie more in trying to get the ball to Joba/Mo. Let Farnsworth and Hawkins do the mopping up.

The only other bright spot I noted was the double of the bat of Giambi. He took it the other way and that's not something we've seen much from Giambi in recent years. Hopefully he can keep that up.

The game couldn't have started any worse. You could tell right from the get go that Ian Kennedy didn't have it. Not a great start to the season. It seemed like everything he threw was landing in front of Molina. It kind of reminded me of my friend Don. He pitched on our high school baseball team and most of what he threw ended up going about 58 feet. It just seemed like Ike could never get it going. Just when you thought maybe he'd pull through, he digressed. I don't think it's anything to worry about. He'll bounce back. He's a control pitcher and i don't think the wildness will be an issue.

The offense was again for the most part non-existent. They had a nice little run there in the 4th. They were tagging Sonnanstine. 3 balls to the wall and one over. That's just a glimmer of what these guys are capable of doing. As the pen kept throwing goose eggs I thought for sure they would chip away at that lead. But like they've done all season, they just didn't get it going. It's early. Slow starts are common. No worries.

Pettitte makes his debut tomorrow. Should be interesting to see the crowd's reaction when he takes the hill. I imagine there will be a light smattering of boos amongst a lot of applause. If he can deliver a solid performance, all will be good in Andy's world. At least until he throws on the road.

Tomorrow is another day. Enjoy your night.

J-Boogie