Indians 5, Yankees 3-The midges...eh Tribe bites back

Joba Chamberlain has not had his best moments as a Yankee against the Indians. Last year, he gave up the game-tying run in Game 2 that might have made for a different series. Tonight, he served up a 3-run homerun to David Dellucci that gave the Indians a 5-3 lead that they would hold on to.

I'm not going to yell for Joba's head. Set-up men blow saves, that's how baseball works. The only thing i'm going to say is that the walks were a problem. He walked two men and he needs to have better control than that.

The game had all the set-up of a nice Yankees win. Pettite grinded through six innings, the offense scratched three runs off Fausto Carmona, with the rbi's coming by Giambi and Cano, and it seemed like six outs by Mariano and Joba were coming. But the Tribe had other plans.

Tonight's loss dropped the Yankees to 0-15 when losing after seven innings. That is kind of an alarming statistic, meaning they have to beat a closer.

Beauty tomorrow with Cliff Lee against Chien-Ming Wang.

Yankees 8, Mariners 2-How sweep it is

Darrell Rasner has pitched six innings for the Yankees this season. In this six inning, he has won more games that Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes have combined in over 40. Rasner pitched the Yankees to a sweep today as the Yanks beat the Mariners 8-2.

Rasner gave up a bomb to Adrian Beltre in the first inning, but from there he settled down to pitch effectively. He gave the Yankees more than they have seen from Hughes and Kennedy pretty much all season.

The offense again came to life today, absolutely smashing Carlos Silva. Johnny Damon was a sparkplug at the top of the line-up, Derek Jeter was the captain, Melky went yard again, and Robinson Cano went yahtzee too.

This is the type of ball the Yankees need to play to be a championship caliber team. They need to pitch and hit like they did this weekend.

My First month all-star Team

Here is my all-star team after one month:

C-Geovanny Sotto, Chicago Cubs
1b-Lance Berkman, Houston Astros
2b-Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies
3b-David Wright, New York Mets
ss-Hanley Ramirez, Florida Marlins
OF-Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers
OF-Xavier Nady, Pittsburgh Pirates
OF-Pat Burrell, Philadelphia Phillies
DH-David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox

SP-Brandon Webb, Arizona Diamondbacks
SP-Chien-Ming Wang, New York Yankees
SP-Cliff Lee, Cleveland Indians
SP-Ervin Santana, Los Angeles Angels
SP-Tim Lincecum, San Fransisco Giants

RP-Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees
RP-Joe Nathan, Minnesota Twins
RP-Johnathan Papelbon, Boston Red Sox
RP-Brad Lidge, Philadelphia Phillies
RP-Joakim Soria, Kansas City Royals
RP-Billy Wagner, New York Mets
RP-Francisco Rodriguez, LAA

Yankees 6, Mariners 1-Mussina and Damon dazzle

Mike Mussina is not finished and I will admit that I was completely wrong when it came to the Moose. He pitched six great innings today to improve to 4-3 and bring the Yankees back to .500 as the Yanks beat the Mariners, 6-1, today in the Bronx.

Mussina is pitching as good baseball as he possibly could. He is mixing his pitches effectively, getting ahead on the hitters, and his off-speed pitches are keeping the batters on their toes.

Mussina probably will not be able to beat the great offenses in the game anymore. I will be quick to admit it. But he can still be an effective third or fourth starter for the Yankees-if he keeps this up.

He was aided by an unusual output from the Yankees against one of the best and brightest young pitchers in baseball, Felix Hernandez. The Yankees absolutely tatooed him today, headlined by Damon, Jeter and Abreu who each had several hits, headlined by Damon's upper-decker.

Johnny Damon has also been playing great baseball recently, providing the spark at the top of the line-up the Yankees need.

On a side note, the Mariners look punchless. This team's offense is weak. Richie Sexson can't hit, Ichiro has no protection, and there are just alot of holes in the line-up.

It's good for the Yankees to win this series, especially since they faced the Mariners' aces. To sweep tomorrow would be great. Silva vs. Rasner tomorrow.

Yankees 5, Mariners 1-Wang continues to amaze

Chien-Ming Wang continues to dazzle this season improving to an 6-0 as the Yankees beat the Mariners, 5-1, to stop their three game skid and get on the winning track.

The Yankees are now 7-0 in Wang's starts, and with the type of outings he gave the bombers tonights, it's not hard to see why. His sinker was on and he continues to get tough outs. His strikeout rate has actually improved too.

The offense was able to get three runs off Erik Bedard and beat him for what seemed like on of the first times in recent history. Although they only managed four hits off him, they were able to give their ace run support that he held up.

The Yankees needed a win desperately tonight and Wang came through in the clutch. With the injuries, the Yankees need to try and keep themselves afloat in the meantime, and tonight they came together for a solid victory.

Big Game tomorrow against King Felix.

Giants draft an effective class

I am very pleased with the New York Giants Draft Class, headlined by Kenny Phillips, Terell Thomas and Mario Manningham.

Phillips is a smart, hard-nosed player that should work well in the Giants secondary and provide depth in the position and look to make an impact this season and next.

Thomas, if healthy, will provide depth to the cornerback position, where the Giants need to fortify themselves.

Manningham adds a solid weapon to the Giants passing attack, and if the stays out of trouble, should be a nice addition to the wide-receiving corps and could help give Eli Manning five options on every passing play.

Overall, I am satisfied with the Giants as we try and defend our title. Let's go Big Blue!

Tigers 8, Yankees 4-Quick start translates into another loss...

The first inning looked so promising. Ian Kennedy pitched a scoreless inning and Bobby Abreu hit a 3-run homerun to give the Yankees a quick 3-0 lead. But as was the case last night, the pitching and the bats let the Yankees down as they were swept by the Tigers after dropping an 8-4 game at the stadium last night.

Ian Kennedy was given a 3-0 lead and was not able to hold the lead. Although he did not get the best of defense from Johnny Damon and Bobby Abreu in the fourth inning, he just could not get it done. For the first 2.2 innings, he pitched effectively and was able to get the outs he needed. But with two outs in the third, it all unraveled for him. He put a fastball down the middle of the plate for Maggz that he crushed, and then left another one for Miguel Cabrera. He was yanked after 4.2 innings. It is clearly the case that he is no ready to be an effective starter in the major leagues yet.

The offense, though, just like last night disappeared after the first inning. They allowed Nate Robertson, who has been hit up by every other team in baseball, to settle in and only get charged with one run over the last 5.1 innings. The offense had a chance with two outs and the bases loaded in the sixth, but Bobby Abreu could not come through.

The Yankees are in serious trouble right now. They are struggling and do not seem to have the pitching necessary to be a championship contender team, along with a stagnant offense. This might be a long season...

Tigers 6, Yankees 2-Pettite can't survive

Andy Pettite has been known to be the stopper in his career. When the Yankees lose the previous game, his record in the next start is simply fantastic. But not tonight...and not with this offense. Pettite gave up five runs in six innings and dropped to 3-3 as the Yankees fell to 14-15 with a 6-2 loss against Detroit tonight.

Pettite cruised through four innings, but then seemed to hit a wall in the fifth inning. He gave up a single to Edgar Renteria and then a two-run bomb to the light-hitting Marcus Thames, and then in the sixth, allowed a rare homerun to Placido Polanco and a rbi single to Carlos Guillen.

Andy Pettite has gotten to the point in his career where he will have shaky innings as the one he did tonight. The real problem, though, is the offense. Without A-Rod and Jorge Posada, the offense doesn't have the punch it normally does. Add in that Jason Giambi and Robinson Cano are hitting below the Mendoza line, and you have a line-up destined for failure.

They jumped on Jeremy Bonderman in the first innings for two runs, but then the bats went cold, which has been a common theme throughout this season.

Although the Yankees have been resilient and they have been doing a great job to be only 14-15 at this point when they chould definitely be 10-19 or worse, they just don't inspire any confidence in you that they will go on a rampant tear and just play playoff caliber baseball. Thankfully, no team in the division hs been taking advantage. The Yankees are lucky that Boston is only 3 game ahead of them.

On a side note, Phil Hughes went on the DL which is what he needed to. It was a pressure free way to get him out of the rotation and hopefully he will benefit from it because he has been awful.

Ian Kennedy needs to have a solid start tomorrow or the Yankees will get swept, and then get to face two guys (Felix Hernandez and Erik Bedard) who they do not hit.