Starting Pitching Again Dooms Yankees

Andy Pettitte was bad tonight. No trying to sugar coat it. He just didn't have it. He's the guy who you can count on to throw at least 6 innings. Tonight he barely made it through 5. The Yankees bullpen needed the night off and Pettitte failed to deliver. With Ian Kennedy pitching tomorrow and no off day in sight, it could be a rough stretch for the Yankees bullpen. They got burned yesterday by the rain delay. They got burned today by Pettitte's ineffectiveness. I shudder to think what could happen tomorrow if Kennedy doesn't throw deep into the game. If he throws strikes he'll be OK. The bullpen is in shambles right about now. Bruney is done for the year. Farnsworth and Hawkins are terrible. Traber is unproven. We now have two AAAers up to help out in Albaladejo and Britton. Job is eventually headed for the rotation. And Mo is now and will always be Mo. No worries there. But worries pretty much everywhere else.

The offense tonight was brought to you courtesy of Jason Giambi. He had a pretty good swing tonight. He absolutely crushed his first homer. That was a shot. Rumor is that Shelley Duncan is on his way back. If Giambi wants his playing time he needs to keep swinging the bat like that. Outside of that there wasn't much doing. Jeter has been abysmal since the team left Baltimore. Cano continues to stink up the joint. The offense needs to pick up the pitching staff. As a unit tonight they were awful. Giambi and Matsui. That was pretty much it. They're very lucky they don't run into Carmona and Cliff Lee this series.

I'm probably going to miss tomorrow's game unless I DVR it, which I'll probably do. I have traffic school from 9-4 and a 2 year old's birthday party from 4-???. I got nabbed by the fuzz doing 43 in a 15. School zone. Lucky for me the cop was nice enough to leave the word "school" off the ticket. It got knocked down and I have to go to class and pay a $25 fine. Not bad all things considered. I'm not looking forward to the class. But that's what you get when you're a lead foot like me.

Enjoy your night/day. Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Wang Picks Up Win #50 Behind Late-Inning Longballs

I hate games that start later in the evening. West coast games are absolutely brutal. My 8-month old son likes to wake up at 6am and the last thing I need to be doing at midnight is watching baseball and blogging about it. I love to sleep and I can usually function on 6 hours or so but really prefer to sleep as long as possible. But I'm a trooper and I'm always in it for the long haul.

Chien-Ming Wang wasn't his typical self but he pitched well enough to pick up his 50th career win. Wang wasn't anywhere near dominating but he pitched his way into and out of many jams. He threw a lot of pitches and I don't think I've ever seen him get to so many 3 ball counts, or 2 strike counts for that matter. He kept the team in the game and the team rewarded him by picking up the runs at just the right time. He left the game in the hole and a Bobby Abreu grand slam put him in line for the W.

Damon had a heck of a game at the plate. He's now 5 for his last 9 with 5 runs scored, 5 RBI, and 2 longballs. When Johnny succeeds at the plate, the team always seems to fare well. This could be start of good things from JD.

The Captain scuffled tonight. 0-5. Ouch. I thought for sure he'd deliver with the bases juiced in the 7th and the team down a run. If there was ever a Jeter moment it was then. Had there been 2 down I'm sure he would have come through with a hit. Thankfully Bobby Abreu picked Jeter up by hitting a grand salami. That was huge! Timely hits are starting to happen. Good times.

I about threw the remote through the TV when Traber and Bruney issues back-to-back walks to open up the 7th. If there's one thing I can't stand it's relievers that issue walks. Control problems have plagued Bruney his entire career. He started out so well. No walks in his first 3 games and 6 walks in his last 6. The one game he didn't walk someone he gave up 2 HRs to the Rays. It's not a good trend. But I still prefer him to Farnsworth or Hawkins.

The ineffectiveness of Traber and Bruney forced Girardi to bring in Joba in the 7th inning. I know there really are no "Joba Rules" this year but I prefer him in the 1 inning outings, and only pitching in the close ones. I was surprised he came out for the 8th after the Yankees picked up 3 insurance runs on Damon's HR. I would have turned it over to Farnsworth and/or Hawkins and saved Joba for another day, but I'm not the manager for a reason. I wonder if Girardi thinks he might need some mop-up work tomorrow with Moose pitching and that's why he continued with Joba. Maybe he was saving the scrubs just in case moose doesn't go deep into tomorrow's game.

Farnsworth blows. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

With the win the Yankees move to 11-10. I'm very pleased with that record all things considered. It should be worse. A lot worse. With the inconsistent pitching and lack of timely hitting they should probably be, I don't know, 6-15 maybe? Considering they've only played 9 games at home and have pretty much been on the road since the second week of the season I'm real happy with their current slot in the standings. They've weathered the storms so far and they've come out of it pretty well. 11-10. I'll take it.

Congrats again to the Wanger for picking up career win #50. He's the youngest to 50 since Doc Gooden reached it in 1986. It's late. Don't quote me on the year. I think it's right but the brain starts powering down at midnight and the clock just struck 12.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Wang Gets Wocked, Sox Get Socked, Yanks Win 15-9

I'm starting to write this post a little after 10pm in the east. This game is your typical Yankees/Sox affair. A knocked down, dragged out fight with each side landing blow after blow after blow. We're already 3 hours deep and at this rate it's going to end after 11. Dude has to work in the morning. I can't be staying up all night blogging. It's currently 11-9 Yankees. Abreu just flew out to the LF corner to open up the inning. I may sprinkle in some nuggets about the live action as I type this.

This game was the polar opposite of the Wang/Buchholz pitching duel from last week. Neither pitcher had their A game tonight. I think you can argue the point that neither had their B, C, D or E games either. Neither pitcher made it past the 4 inning mark and each got hit pretty hard. This was definitely not your typical Wang outing. The last post I wrote talked about how dominant Wang has been against the Sox in his last 3 or so outings. You can basically crinkle that post up and toss it right in the trash.

If you had told me before the game that the Yankees would have scored 7 runs off Buchholz, I would have thought a Wang win was automatic. I'm a little shocked that he got hit for a 9 spot but it happens. Al Leiter dropped some insight on bad outings during the YES broadcast. In short, they're going to happen. He said that great pitchers typically have about 20 starts a year where there stuff is on. That would mean you'd have about 10-15 starts a year where you were scuffling on the hill. You also mentioned that when he was a Yankee farm hand, Joe Altobelli told him that the expectations for pitchers were to have 2 great starts, 2 good starts, and 1 bad start in every 5 outings. This was Chien-Ming's 4th start of the year. He's had 2 great outings, 1 good one, and now 1 bad one. I'd say he's on track. I'm not at all discouraged by his outing. It's going to happen. He's our ace. He'll bounce back.

Kate Smith just finished singing God Bless America. I've got to give it up to LaTroy Hawkins. His 2 solid innings have closed the flood gates. He now hasn't given up an earned run in his last 5 outings. He seems to be settling in and that's what the Yankees are going to need from him, and that's what they brought him here to do. It's good to see him pitch well. He was definitely one of the main components in tonight's win. He came in and shut the door on the Sox offense. Hawkins picked up his 1st win in Pinstripes.

Right from the get-go the offense was on tonight. I was pretty pumped after Bobby and Alex went back-to-back. Alex absolutely crushed that ball. It looks like they're finally turning things around offensively. They racked up double-digit runs on double-digit hits, and no one was left out of the party. They were hitting with runners in scoring position too. It's about freaking time. We saw 2-out run scoring hits from Moeller and Jeter in the 4th. Jeter is picking up right where he left off last year. The moniker of Captain Clutch is very fitting. Last year with 2 outs and RISP Jeter hit .418. He was hitting .333 with 2 out and RISP coming into this game. Melky just got thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double. The replay showed he was safe but what can you do. I don't mind him trying to pick up the extra base but you have to be aware of the situation. It would have been nice to let Derek do his thing. The 5th inning was a bright spot also. They put 5 consecutive guys on base and took the momentum back from the Sox. That was huge.

Chad Moeller is filling in quite nicely. 3-4 with a walk and an RBI. His 2 out run scoring double in the 4th was a pretty clutch hit. But his 5th inning walk was probably one of the most clutch Yankee plate appearances of the night. He worked that count and eventually picked up the free pass which loaded the bases. His slide into Lugo to break up the DP and cause a throwing error allowing a run score was pretty sweet also. Moeller was named player of the game. Well deserved. It's refreshing to see that we have 2 backup catchers that can fill in for Posada and do such an effective job.

We're headed to the bottom of the 8th now. Traber and Bruney pitched us through the inning. Traber had a long outing, eh? He got Ortiz to foul out to Moeller on 1 pitch. Not bad for a day's work. Bruney bounced back from his rough outing in Tampa. He buckled down after giving up a single to Manny. I love it when someone strikes out Kevin Youkilis. That makes my day. Considering Youkilis went down on strikes 3 times tonight I'm a happy camper. The bullpen did a pretty solid job tonight. It's too bad they didn't have Joba though. I don't mind seeing Bruney and Traber pitch but I don't get that same warm and fuzzy feeling I get with Joba on the mound in the 8th. I think it's safe to say we all feel that way. Come back soon Joba. But not too soon. Make sure your pops is OK first though.

A-Rod just hit an automatic double. That blows because Jeter would have scored no doubt. They're loading the bases by walking Matsui. I really hope they come through with some more insurance runs. I mentioned yesterday that the failures of the offense to score late against Tampa Bay could come back to bite them in the rear if they needed to call on Mariano for a 3rd straight day. That was the last thing I wanted to see happen. Jorge just dunked in a 2-run bloop and Mo has taken a seat. Another hit with RISP. That was huge. Me likely. Hip hip Jorge.

Giambi just blooped a 2-run double to left field. Another hit with RISP. Me really likey. I thought for sure that Giambi took Timlin yard again. I think I would have dropped a deuce on the floor if he had. But going the other way for a 2-run double is just as nice. Mike Timlin is taking it on the chin this year against the Yankees. Timlin has now given up 8 hits and 7 earned runs in 1.1 innings against the Yankees. Giambi's is 3-3 against him. Considering the Big G now has 5 hits on the season that's pretty funny.

Brian Bruney is killing me right now. I want to go to bed dude. Quit messing around and pick up these last 2 outs! And a fly out to Damon ends the game.

That was a crazy game. The offense was definitely on its game tonight. 15 runs on 16 hits. Everybody hits and Matsui is the only one without an RBI. Not too shabby. What could have been an ugly loss turned into a huge win. The Yankees are winners of three in a row and all signs point to that they're turning the corner offensively. This win was definitely a team effort. Nice job boys.

J-Boogie

Bullpen Blows Win For Kennedy, Robbie Cano To The Rescue

Robbie Cano. It's about time. Now that's a way to break out of a slump. Cano bailed out an awful performance by the Yankees bullpen and gave the Yankees a hard fought victory in what should have been a cake walk. It figures that the one time they break out the lumber that the pitching would falter.

I was pretty shocked as I watched Traber and Bruney get smacked around the way they did. I still prefer them to the tandem of Farnsworth and Hawkins. But they were awful tonight. It really sucks that they blew the game for Ian Kennedy and that Bruney gets the win. Kennedy should have earned his first victory of the season tonight. If not for a line drive off the hip he probably would have. Kennedy looked good tonight. Real solid. It was definitely an encouraging performance. He wasn't what I would call dominant but he was pretty effective. 94 pitches, 60 for strikes and was ahead of most hitters. And that's what you want to see. If the pitcher can get ahead of the hitter it opens up a lot of options. I hate watching guys try to nibble around the strike zone. Attack the zone and you'll win your share of ball games. It was amazing how soon after he left the game the bullpen blew the lead. Horrible. I'll chalk it up to a one-off. It would have been nice to have had some Joba out there, but what can you do?

The Bronx Bombers were in the house tonight busting out for 8 runs on 15 hits, 4 of which left the yard. How nice was it to see some offense? I couldn't believe it in the 4th when Jeter and Damon had back to back hits with runners in scoring position. I don't think we've seen that all season. It was great to have Jeter back in the lineup. 2 for 5 with 2 RBI isn't a bad way to come back from a week off. We missed you Cap. I didn't notice any ill effects of his strained quad. The question is how will he feel tomorrow?

It was nice to see Alex rack up 4 hits. He talked in the post game about working on shortening up his swing. That's exactly what he needs to do. I keep saying quit trying to hit the 8-run HR. He shortens it up and picks up 4 hits in the process. I hope he keeps it up. The dingers will come naturally. No need to push for 'em.

Cano's pinch-hit HR was absolutely huge. That was a big knock and I hope it gets Robbie going. It definitely changed my mood. I went from being dejected by Bruney and Traber's performance to jumping around the room. Good thing the wife and son are in Atlanta visiting her sister. I would have woken him up for sure.

God bless Mariano Rivera. I was surprised Girardi went to him for a 4 out save. I thought for sure Albaladejo was going to finish the 8th. But why risk it? Mo hadn't pitched since Thursday so it's not like he had a tired arm. It was the top of the order too so I think it was definitely the right call. Girardi got lucky tonight. Cano's pinch hit HR bailed out his call to the bullpen. Girardi has had some bad luck with some of his moves. I'll give you a reprieve there Joe. It worked out.

It wasn't pretty tonight but a win is a win and i'll take it no matter how it happens. We're back to .500. Andy gets the ball tomorrow. A 2 game winning streak would make for a nice homecoming when the boys get home to take on Boston. I hate the Red Sox. Nice job there Joe Borowski. Way to go. Speaking of the Sox, it's funny how the Yankees dig up Papi's jersey and then he breaks out of his slump. Odd coincidence wouldn't you say?

J-Boogie

More Of The Same

Where or where has the offense gone? Oh where, oh where could it be? I know one place it's not and that's wherever the Yankees are playing. There has been no such thing as timely hitting thus far. Their batting average with runners in scoring position is abysmal. Sadly, tonight was no different. Granted the weather was horrible but the Royals had to hit in it also. My friend Dave left a comment on my last post that read, "The Yanks are outgunned and out manned by the KC Royals. Boy have times changed." Sad but true.

I was extremely encouraged at the outset of this game by the forward thinking of Joe Girardi. The forecast called for nasty weather so he made the decision to sit Ian Kennedy for the start of the game and use him in relief. Makes perfect sense. If you know you're going to get the game in why run the risk of getting a short outing from your starter if there's a rain delay. Joe Torre actually did this last week with Chad Billingsley. It was a smart move then. It's a smart move now. Too bad it didn't pay off in the end. I thought Kennedy pitched alright in his 3 innings of relief. He wasn't extremely sharp but he was much better than he was in his first outing. I'm encouraged by his outing. I think Matsui misplayed that fly ball that led to a run. Had Matsui hauled that in Kennedy's outing would have seemed much better.

Brian Bruney and Billy Traber were probably one of the lone bright spots tonight. Bruney was again dominant. 4 Ks in 2 innings. He's definitely showing he can be trusted when it counts. Traber had a pretty decent inning of work as well. He and Bruney are going to be key parts of the Yankees bullpen.

Farnsworth blows. It doesn't surprise me in the least that he gave up 4 hits and 2 walks in his 2 inning appearance. Again to quote my friend Dave from a comment he left, "Why can't Farnsworth go the way of Pavano? please blow your arm out worthless piece of garbage." A little extreme but I think every Yankees fan shares his sentiments. I'm not a fan. The guy can throw gas but it doesn't matter much how fast you throw if you have no movement on the ball. Memo to Joe Girardi: stop letting Kyle pitch in close games.

I've said this before and I'll say it again. I love Jose Molina. I was so sick and tired of watching guys like Wil Nieves, Kelly Stinnett, and John Flaherty step up to the plate and end up basically being an easy out. Molina might not have the greatest bat in the world but he's far and away the best backup catcher the Yankees have had in a long time. His arm isn't too shabby either. He's now thrown out 6 of the 12 would-be base stealers. A 50% caught stealing rate is pretty darn good.

Why did Jason Giambi swing at the 1st pitch with 2 on and 1 out in the 9th? You're facing a new pitcher. Let the first one go by. Popping up to third helps no one but the other team. Absolutely ridiculous.

With this again pathetic loss the Yankees drop to 4-5 on the young season. What causes these guys to start out so horrible year after year? just once I'd like to see them start hot right out of the gate. Maybe they really are affected by the weather? The schedule in recent years hasn't exactly been kind to the Yankees in the month of April. Last year they opened up at home against Tampa Bay. Why couldn't that series be in Tampa Bay? Same goes for this year. Why do two teams in domed stadiums open the season in New York? Couldn't the Yankees just have easily opened the season on the road in Tampa Bay and Toronto? Northeast teams should start the 1st week on the road. It's that simple. And what's up with the 18 road games this month? Ken Singleton mentioned during the broadcast that it's the most ever for a team in April. It doesn't make much sense. But it is what it is and what it is is baseball. If you're truly a good team you can battle through it. Right now they're not a good team.

Andy Pettitte gets the call tomorrow. Since it doesn't look like the offense is showing up, he better. We don't need to head to Boston on a 3-game losing streak.

Come on boys. Break out the lumber.

J-Boogie

Offensive Woes Continue, Yankees Need New Manager

I keep expecting the Yankees to have an offensive breakout and so far my wishes have gone unfulfilled. Just when you think they're standing on the verge of getting it on, they digress. They've had their chances and have shown some signs of life, but by and large they have collectively stunk up the joint. A-Rod and Abreu have been the only real consistent performers and even they have come up short in big spots. Is it me or do they sometimes make mediocre pitchers look like Cy Young? I can understand not racking up a lot of runs against a trio like Halladay, Burnett, and McGowan, but come on, they can't knock around Andy Sonnanstine and Edwin Jackson? I know it's early. I know the season is only 5 games old. It's just puzzling to watch. It doesn't seem like they're playing their game. They're not seeing pitches and working counts. It seems like they're being aggressive at the plate and it's not paying off. I've seen a lot of long swings. I have to disagree with a comment John Flaherty made about Shelley Duncan's plate appearance with the bases loaded. He mentioned he was seeing good swings from Shelley. I'm not sure what game he was watching because I couldn't disagree more. Duncan tries way to hard to crush the ball. He seems totally off balance and he never seems to have his feet where they should be when his swing is over. We need base hits in those big spots. Keep the line moving and the runs will come. We don't need 6-run homers.

I thought Pettitte pitched alright all things considered. His only real mistake was the pitch that Gomes hit out. Shelley Duncan didn't do anybody any favors by throwing the ball into left field. The Yankees are going to suffer dearly if they can't get a first baseman that can make the throw to second base. Yesterday, Giambi almost did the same thing but lucky for him Jeter was able to hold the bag while making the catch. It wasn't a great outing by Pettitte but he looked pretty good out there. He kind of burned out there around the end of the 4th. Understandable considering his shortened spring training. The real question is how will Andy feel tomorrow? Fingers are crossed that he feels good.

How about that Brian Bruney? He looked real good, striking out 4 over 2 hitless innings. Brian Bruney's success as major league pitcher will entirely depend on his ability to keep the ball over the plate. If Bruney has good control, he'll dominate. His struggles have always revolved around poor control. He's got great stuff and I think he'll do very well this year. Shedding 20 pounds didn't hurt.

Ohlendorf looked good also. He's got some nasty stuff. I was surprised Aybar took him yard. I'm not even close to lumping Ohlie in the same boat as Farnsworth and Hawkins. If I'm Joe Girardi I'd look to use guys like Bruney and Ohlendorf in close games. The bridge to Mariano should start with Bruney, Traber and Ohlendorf and not with Hawkins and Farnsworth. Maybe Hawkins can work his way up that pecking order, but Farnsworth? Never.

The Yankees are lucky to be 2-3. Their record could very well be 0-5. Tomorrow isn't going to be a walk in the park as James Shields gets the call for the Rays. The Yankees should be able to hit him, but if they don't, Wang better be on his A-game. He's the ace. He's the stopper. He's the guy that's supposed to stop losing streaks.

Oh yeah: Fire Rob Thomson! Get well soon skip.

J-Boogie

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

Stealing Victory From The Jaws Of Defeat

Is it me or was this game a near carbon copy of the opener? Another well pitched ball game by both teams and the Yanks getting the winning run after a defensive miscue by the Jays. The only difference is that the tying run was 90 feet from home. Mo was Mo and got Hill looking. Yanks win 3-2.

For those of you that don't know me or are new to this blog, likely don't know I'm a big Phil Hughes guy. I frequent his blog. I drove 5 hours just to watch him pitch in Scranton (only to have it rained out). I have a Phil Hughes BP Jersey. I have a Hughes 65 t-shirt. I drove to Erie, PA two years ago just to try and get his autograph, which I did. I also bought one of those "I Want To Thank The Good Lord" Joe DiMaggio signs that they sell on Steiner Sports that's signed by Phil. I got it from MLB auctions for $100. I was biting my nails all off season while rumors were flying about him going to Minnesota for Johan. Thank God the Yankees were smart enough to hold onto Phil.

Personally, I thought Hughes was awesome tonight. He had great control with 57 of his 86 pitches were strikes. He consistently pitched ahead in counts. He made Frank Thomas look absolutely foolish. He scattered only 4 hits. That bloop double by Eckstein was ridiculous. You knew Rios was going to drive him home. As I said yesterday, Rios owns the Yankees. And then Eckstein drives in a run with an infield single. Hughes very well could have escaped tonight without giving up a run, but that's baseball. I wasn't pleased that he was on the hook for the loss after such a great performance. Thankfully, the boys picked him up scoring twice in the 6th. If only they could have plated one more run, my boy would've been in line for the W. That would have been nice. Hughes is a great talent and I'm really looking forward to seeing him pitch many years in Pinstripes. They'd be stupid to let him go. Sign him long term. You won't hear me complain.

The Yankee bats have been pretty silent so far this year. I credit most of that to the Jays pitching staff. Halladay, Burnett and McGowan aren't slouches. They pitched extremely well and I think the Yanks are lucky to have escaped with 2 wins. They very well could have lost all 3. Honestly, they probably should have lost all 3. The Jays made some bad plays late in game 1. And they followed that up today with another game-costing error late in the game. When Damon reached on Downs' fielding error that set it up for that run to score. This could have been an entirely different post had Downs made that play. I'm glad to see the Yanks went with back-to-back bunts there in the 8th. That's the style of play that's going to win these games. I like Girardi because he's bringing that to the table. We don't really need these guys swinging for the fences every at-bat. That was their downfall in last night's game. It's early April and these guys should know the ball doesn't fly out of the park like it does in June. 3 months from now and Giambi ties that game up. Considering the situation and the elements they should have just tried to keep the line moving. I'd like to think Girardi won't let that happen often.

We as Yankees fans should feel pretty comfortable with our bullpen. It's been a long time since we've seen such a formidable duo at the back of the pen. I think the tandem of Joba and Mo is much better than the pairings of Gordon and Mo, or even Wettelnad and Mo. Odds are good that if the Yanks have the lead heading into the 8th that the game's over. I was impressed with Traber and Bruney. They looked good. I'm not sure how many of you have ever played Strat-O-Matic or Diamond Mind Baseball. I'm an avid replayer of past seasons and when I play as some of the past Yankees teams from recent years, I always worry about having to give the game to the pen if it's close. I have a feeling that when I replay 2008 I won't be worried too much.

So they won 2 out of 3. Not a bad start. The series was chock full of great pitching. Like I mentioned earlier, taking 2 out of 3 when you're facing Halladay, Burnett and McGowan is no easy task. They held the Yankee hitter in check. 2 of the 3 runs in game 1 came on a HR that barely cleared the wall and on a fielder's choice that only happened because Eckstein couldn't turn a double play. The only runs in game 2 came on a homer by A-Rod. And tonight they scored on a wild pitch, a sac fly and a single that followed a sac bunt and an error. They're not exactly tearing the cover off the ball. Thankfully, the pitching kept the games close and allowed them to win the series.

Random Notes:
Mo notched his 2nd save. That didn't take long. Much faster than last year.

I love having Jose Molina as Jorge's back-up. When he steps up to the plate I don't think to myself that it's an automatic out like I did with Nieves, Stinnett, and Flaherty.

We're winning with pitching and defense. What wins championships again?

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie