Yanks Escape With 6-5 Win In Minnesota

The Yankees beat the Twins last night 6-5 and I found myself very frustrated watching the game. How do those guys manage only 6 runs when they rack up 16 hits? That came should have been a blow out. Had they lost, I'd have gone through the roof.

The Shelley Duncan experiment has to end soon. Horrible at the plate. Horrible in the field. The Yanks can easily find better. I've said on many occasion I'm not a big fan of Duncan. He might run into the occasional homer but the negatives far outweigh the positives. He made an absolutely horrible throw to 2nd in the 1st inning, which eventually led to 4 runs. Duncan is going to be a 4-A player. Too good for the minors, not good enough for the majors. I like his enthusiasm, but that doesn't win a lot of ball games.

I thought we were in for another Mike Mussina meltdown after Duncan's 1st inning error. Kind of like what we saw when he only lasted two-thirds of an inning against Baltimore. Moose has to do a better job of picking the team up after the defensive miscues. After Duncan's error, Moose gave up 3 straight singles, all with the bases loaded. Granted, the defensive has to play better behind Moose, but Moose can't be doing that when they tank a play, something they've done 7 times this season. What Moose can do though is battle his way through the inning and then shut the door. Moose was brilliant last night in innings 2 through 5, allowing only 2 hits in those 5 innings. He kept the team in the game and the offense did the rest. Moose picks up win #8 and is again tied for the league lead in wins. Who'd have thunk it? You go Moose!

The offense had an all-around good night at the plate. The lone exception being Derek Jeter. Talk about a slump. The Captain is 3 for his last 37. That's crazy. I still have to think it has something to do with an injured hand maybe, but Jeter is a gamer and he's going to play everyday. If is he by chance hurt and not saying anything, I hope he takes a good look at his recent performance and questions if he's helping the team by playing. Don't be a hero Jeet. I respect your desire to play and win, but if you're hurting the team by playing, consider a day off or two. The Yankees racked up 16 hits last night and 12 came off the bats of Abreu, A-Rod, Matsui, and Melky, each with 3 hits a piece. Abreu had a monster night at the dish, 3 for 4 with 2 triples and 4 runs scored. He's hitting just south of .300. You'd think though that the Yankees would score more than 6 times if they racked up 16 hits? The Twins turned 3 DPs, made some great plays defensively (between the legs no look catch) and the Yankees definitely ran themselves out of some runs. They very easily could have lost that game. The pitching gets a lot of credit for picking them up.

The bullpen held its own in support of Moose. Kyle Farnsworth's season of inconsistency continued. Is he inconsistent or consistently bad? K-Farns has been pretty much the same type of pitcher since he's been in Pinstripes. He's has a few good games and a lot of bad ones. Granted, he bounced back after giving up a leadoff HR to Morneau, but he's till downright awful. Girardi needs to consider other options for the set=up role now that Joba is out of the picture. Right now, Edwar Ramirez is probably the best option. He's pitching lights out. they need to give him a shot. He's definitely earned it. And thank God for Mariano Rivera. How many times have we Yankee fans said that? A ground out to the pitcher and 2 Ks to close it out and save the win. Vintage Mo. He totally got hosed on the walk. That was strike 3 in my book. No biggie though with Mo on the mound. He'll just strike out the next 2 batter. Ball game over.

Chien-Ming Wang goes tonight against Boof Bonser. The Yanks are again sitting at .500 and this is probably their best shot to get above that plateau. The Yankees have hit Boof very well the 2 times they faced him. 15 hits and 11 runs in 2 starts. They're hitting .341 of him. I don't care what the naysayers say. Wang is an ace, a true #1. He can take a step forward in that argument by pitching like he can and putting this team above the .500 mark. That's what aces do. I don't want to jinx anything but I'm liking our chances tonight.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie