10:02 p.m. Hawkins allowed a leadoff single to Carlos Pena. Hawkins throws a wild pitch and the boos start. Mel Rojas in the Bronx? He bounces back to get Upton to ground out. More boos after he walks Eric Hinske on four pitches. Aybar grounds out to first for the second out. Mariano Rivera is warming up in the bullpen. Gomes stikes out swinging. Yanks win 6-1.
9:47 p.m. A quiet inning for the Yankees offense as they go in order. Tonight is a night to raise the confidence level of the relievers. It worked for Farnsworth. Next up: LaTroy Hawkins.
9:40 p.m. Farnsworth was sharp tonight. He retired the side on 11 pitches. He got a flyout, strikeout and induced a grounder back to the mound. Looks like the Yankees are rushing to Kansas City. There won't be much time for sleep tonight. Gary Glover is in for the Rays. Only question now is will Abreu get the chance for the cycle. He needs a double and is due up fifth in the inning.
9:32 p.m. Bad news Yankee haters. Farnsworth has more room for error after the Yankees added two runs in the seventh. Matsui continues to hit the ball well with an RBI single and Robinson Cano also hit a run-scoring single to make it 6-1. Besides the Jeter news, it has been a good night for the Yankees. Will Farnsworth crash the party? Well, he just got booed badly. Guess Mets fans aren't the only harsh ones.
9:12 p.m.: Good news Yankee haters. Kyle Farnsworth is warming up in the bullpen.
9:07 p.m. Bruney hit Willy Aybar with one out, but got Johnny Gomes to fly out to center and DiFelice grounded into a 6-4 fielder's choice to end it. Will Joba Chamberlain pitch the eighth? I would bring him in. He did pitch two innings yesterday, but threw only 16 pitches. Baseball babies pitchers enough. Bring Joba in for the 8th. Scott Dohmann is in for the bottom of the 7th for the Rays.
9:00 p.m. Bobby Abreu is stinging the ball tonight. He is one of the few Yankees hitting. He almost had his second home run of the night, but the ball hit the right-centerfield fence for a triple. He scored on A-Rod's single and Matsui drive him home with a double. The Yanks lead 4-1. Mussina is done. He went six innings, allowing just two hits, one earned run, one walk and struck out three. Brian Bruney is in for the seventh.
8:45 p.m. Mussina retired the first two batters before falling behind Carlos Pena 3-and-0. The count went full and Pena grounded out to Robinson Cano, who threw a one-bounce throw to first baseman Wilson Betemit for an error. No problem for the Moose. He fell behind to Upton 2-and-0, but Upton grounded into a fielder's choice. The Moose is sharp. It must be the cold if these two pitchers aren't getting hit.
8:31 p.m. The Yankees offense continues to struggle. Don't worry it's early and the weather is cold. Johnny Damon singled with two outs for the only hit. At least the Yankees have Mussina. Did I really just say that? Fantasy owners sell high!!! The Devils' Zach Parise pulled the lever for the countdown to the new Yankee Stadium. We are now at 74 games. Parise was booed loudly. Whose idea was that? Where was Sean Avery tonight? I won't answer that and censor myself.
8:22 p.m. Mussina continued to be solid in the top of the fifth. He struck out the first two batters. The second strikeout of Johnny Gomes was the 2,668th of his career, tying him with David Cone for 21st all-time. Mussina allowed a two-out double to Mike DiFelice, but got Jason Bartlett to fly out on a full count. The pitch count is up to 64. Not bad. Fantasy owners, sell high!!!
8:08 p.m. Ok, the Yankees do want to get out of town, too. They swung early in the count and went in order. Hideki Matusi hit a fly ball to deep center and Robinson Cano hit a hard line drive to rightfield, but Eric Hinske made a nice catch on the run.
8:04 p.m. I thought the Yankees were the ones who wanted to make this a quick game with a 3:05 p.m. start in Kansas City tomorrow. Seems like the Rays want to get out of town quickly too. They are very impatient tonight and Mussina has thrown just 44 pitches through four innings. He retired the side in order on three groundballs. Very impressive so far.
7:56 p.m. Adam here as my wireless is finally connected. Derek Jeter has left the game with a strained left quad. Jose Molina doubled to lead off the third, but the Yankees were unable to score. Bobby Abreu ripped a liner to centerfield, but even with two outs, Molina was unable to score since the ball was hit so hard. Alex Rodriguez then hit into a 5-4 fielder's choice. Yanks still lead 2-1.
7:35 p.m. Well, it is Boland live-blogging for now as Adam had some wireless issues and Mike Rose is away from his computer for the first time, well, ever. He'll pick things up eventually.
The news here is Derek Jeter, after grounding into a fielder's choice, left the game after the bottom of the first inning. Wilson Betemit moved from first base to short and Morgan Ensberg goes in to play first. We'll update what happened to Jeter when word arrives in the press box. 2-1 Yankees in the third.
Comments (20)
Hawkins should stay ...
I don't think we should cut Hawkins.
The Yankees should be a family-oriented and youth/role model friendly team.
African-American role models are important in baseball and in life, considering the horrific HIV rate, baby termination (8 to1), fatherless families, gang killings and related nightmare ... good role models are important for people who hail from Africa. (And for all people of course!)
Reggie White was a godly man. (Vilified for that reason of course since there is so much money to be made from amoral black suffering ... always has been!) Let's just be honest about all of this, since our future "leaders" obviously can't and won't be.
It's the same in basketball ... didn't people love Duke with Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, Dante Calabria, clean cut, nice looking white kids with class who were winning just about every game? And winning the right way? They showed what America was and could still be. As does someone like Grant Hill. What a role model he was for African American kids, and all kids in fact!
Chlidren need role models they can look up to. Look at someone like Brandon Phillips who plays hard and is never intimidated. Even Sheff. There are lessons to be learned to attack life without fear. It's not just baseball. I look up to them. They can be serious and focus when they need to. They are not afraid. You want them on your side.
So to me, Hawkins should stay at least for now. Maybe people will be mad at me for saying this. But you know ... whatever ...
If we have Igawa over Lilly for a financial connection to Japan, if we sign 16 year old children from Central America and the Caribbean because we can exploit them, rather than find an All American kid at UCLA like Eric Byrnes, then why not keep Hawkins and trade for Brandon Phillips? Why not give all the different groups role models they might more readily identify with?
The Yankees are a global team now. They should appeal to all races and peoples and religions. Not just for the money and market share, but to be an inspiration to the youth.
After Clemens, McNamee/ER chick, Hall and Leyritz, that's the least they can do.
Let the Virginia Tech visit be the start of something new.
Ironic that at Va. Tech it was a heavily medicated Korean who did all the killings.
Why won't people address Big Pharma and the violent video games? That's why I hate bean balls and HGH and steroids, they are only a symptom of a far wider disease in our culture.
Just my two cents.
Remember, anyone can attack the man. Address the points, point by point if you disagree ... by disagreement, we can sharpen our arguements and learn from one another.
No one person has all the answers.
But I know I have the right questions.
For Jeter to come out of the game, this cannot be good.
Stick to baseball Anthony. My God.
Jeter is out with a strained quadricep, so it's probably nuthin too serious.
A quad can take a while to heal and you know how Jeter is about coming out of the game. He must be hurting pretty bad.
Me no happy.
Seriously, are the Yanks ever going to look at another pitch? I think they just went 3 pitches, 3 outs. Sure, the balls were hit hard but come on, make this guy work a little bit. Man, now my mood is rotten....
Adam , hows the crowd? Cant tell from the TV..
Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig Strike ZOne today!!! Thats why Moose looks good..
I hate this. Jeter never comes out unless he really can not play.
WHAT??? Who let Parise in the building??? Adam, now I have another reason to hate the Yankees this season ....
Any chance that the Mets will trot out Jagr and Shanahan at the opener tomorrow? Then I'll root for the Mets this season ....
Let's Go Rangers!
Hmmmmm
Why did Mussina come out? 82 Pitches? 1ER?
McCarthy, Cause he isnt that good and his ERA for the year will be above 5
I know some of you scream at the screen as a matter of habit, but so far this year I have only done it when I see Farnsworth up. What I scream is, "WHY-Y-Y-Y?!?!?!"
Yankees Suck but that pitch to AROD just now was outside.. Not a good call... My fantasy team took a knock on that one.. :(
Adam, can you post another update on Jeter as soon as you speak to him after the game?
Don't look now, but Moose has a 3.09 ERA in two starts.
Good for him.
M-O-O-O-O-O-S-E!!!!!!!
A veritable offensive explosion tonight with 11 hits and six runs; Moose pitches very well, Farnsworth and Hawkins both get through their innings unscathed. What the heck were we panicking for? Hahahaha
Jim A.
I wanted to respond to one of your previous posts.I don't think the Yanks should run Hawkins out of town but I do feel the Yanks have better options at Scranton.He is not the go to guy in the pen.He's the 7th option.Plus he's 35 yrs old and will be gone after this season so it only makes sense with the emergence of these younger more talented pitchers the Yanks can trade or release him come July .The Yanks picked him up as insurance not really knowing what they have in Albadejo and Patterson and of course this was before they decided Joba would be better off in the pen at least for the time being and it's my guess that translates into the entire season.
As other bloggers have mentioned Veras,Melancon and J.B. Cox are also looming on the horizon.
I also think that both Britton and Ramirez have big league futures.
Any word on Jeets injury?
Ruse,
I agree with you. That's why I keep saying this is a transition year for the Yanks as they phase out the old and work in the new players. Hawkins was perfect for the Yankees at the time, someone who could log some innings, perhaps even have a little success along the way, but basically his job was to hold down the fort for a bit until the kids are ready.
I think he will have some trade value no matter what in July as long as he is healthy. When was the last time you saw a July pass by when teams weren't looking for bullpen arms? He could easily be swung back to the National League for a prospect or something.
I will stick to what I said earlier though, it is way too early to judge how he or anyone will perform over the course of the season. July will provide a lot more answers.