Young Guns Shooting Blanks

One night after Phil Hughes turned in a less than impressive performance, Ian Kennedy did him one better. Actually it was one worse. Kennedy couldn't make it out of the 3rd inning and the Orioles pitching silenced the Yankees bats for the second straight night in a 6-0 win.

As much as Hughes has struggled this season, Kennedy has done worse. After last night's debacle, which included 5 walks, Kennedy has allowed 15 runs in 14 innings, with 13 walks and 19 hits. His manager, Joe Girardi, said he'll stay in the rotation for now, but it won't be a shock if Darrell Rasner or Jeff Karstens replaced him in the rotation.

Kennedy escaped a bases loaded jam in the 1st, but wasn't so lucky in the 2nd or 3rd innings. Ramon Hernandez and Brendan Fahey stroked back-to-back doubles in the 2nd for a 1-0 lead. The inning might have been bigger had Kennedy not picked Fahey off of 2nd base.

With one out in the 3rd, Kevin Millar took Kennedy deep for his 3rd home run of the season and a 2-0 lead. Kennedy then issued consecutive walks to Luke Scott and Aubrey Huff to give the Orioles another threat. After striking out Adam Jones for the 2nd out of the inning, Kennedy surrendered a 2-run double to Hernandez and his short evening was done.

In the meantime, the Yankees hitters weren't doing much to improve the team's situation. They manged to put three base runners on in the 1st against Orioles starter Brian Burres, but didn't score.

Johnny Damon lead off the ball game with a walk as Girardi tried yet another new lineup in search of some runs. Melky Cabrera lined into a double play for a quick 2 outs, but Derek Jeter followed with a triple. Alex Rodriguez legged out an infield single, but Jeter was forced to stay at 3rd Base. With two on and two out, Jorge Posada bounced into an inning ending force out.

Jose Molina bounced into an inning ending DP with two aboard in the 3rd to end another potential threat, and the Yankees never put two men on base for the remainder of the night.

News and Notes

Joba Chamberlain was back and struck out two of the four hitters he faced. He also walked one batter. Though he worked off of a mound a few times while he was in Nebraska, he said afterwards that his mechanics were "totally out of whack". To make room on the roster, Edwar Ramirez was returned to Scranton.

Jose Molina was back behind the plate for the first time since April 13. Jorge Posada played 1st Base for the first time since last season and the 13th time in his career.

The Yankees weren't the only ones unhappy about Kyle Farnsworth's suspension. Even though the pitch was behind him, Manny Ramirez didn't feel Farnsworth should be suspended. With A-Rod being hit the night before, Ramirez understood that the Yankees needed to protect their best player. Does anyone really think that's what was inside of Farnsworth's hollow head? More likely it was because Ramirez had homered twice that night. So while Farnsworth may have felt good about himself, word is that his teammates were not happy with his actions.

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, LF	2	0	0	0	2	2	0	.197
Cabrera, CF	3	0	0	0	1	0	2	.296
Jeter, SS	4	0	1	0	0	1	2	.300
Rodriguez, DH	4	0	2	0	0	0	1	.307
Posada, 1B	4	0	1	0	0	0	3	.261
Matsui, RF	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	.323
Ensberg, 3B	3	0	1	0	0	0	2	.375
a-Abreu, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.309
Cano, 2B	3	0	0	0	1	0	1	.164
Molina, C	3	0	0	0	0	0	2	.333
Totals	31	0	6	0	4	3	14
a-Lined out for Ensberg in the 9th.
BATTING 3B: Jeter (2, Burres). TB: Jeter 3; Rodriguez 2; Posada; Matsui; Ensberg. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Posada; Rodriguez. GIDP: Molina. Team LOB: 8. BASERUNNING SB: Cabrera (3, 2nd base off Burres/Hernandez, R). FIELDING E: Cano (4, fielding). DP: (Jeter-Cano-Posada). Pickoffs: Kennedy (Fahey at 2nd base).

NY Yankees	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Kennedy (L, 0-2)	2.2	5	4	4	5	4	1	9.64
Ohlendorf	3.1	3	2	2	1	3	0	3.77
Traber	1.0	1	0	0	1	0	0	2.57
Chamberlain	1.0	0	0	0	1	2	0	0.00

Baltimore	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Roberts, 2B	4	0	0	0	1	1	4	.243
Mora, 3B	5	0	1	0	0	2	2	.229
Markakis, RF	3	1	0	0	2	1	0	.328
Millar, 1B	4	2	2	1	1	1	3	.254
Scott, LF	3	1	1	0	2	1	3	.386
Huff, DH	3	1	1	2	1	1	4	.238
Jones, CF	4	0	0	0	0	1	4	.241
Hernandez, R, C	3	1	2	2	1	1	1	.192
Fahey, SS	3	0	2	1	0	0	1	.176
Totals	32	6	9	6	8	9	22
BATTING 2B: Hernandez, R 2 (2, Kennedy, Kennedy), Fahey (1, Kennedy), Huff (5, Traber). HR: Millar (3, 3rd inning off Kennedy, 0 on, 1 out). TB: Mora; Millar 5; Scott; Huff 2; Hernandez, R 4; Fahey 3. RBI: Fahey (1), Millar (8), Hernandez, R 2 (10), Huff 2 (14). 2-out RBI: Hernandez, R 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Huff 2; Mora; Fahey; Roberts 2. GIDP: Mora. Team LOB: 11. BASERUNNING SB: Roberts (6, 2nd base off Kennedy/Molina). PO: Fahey (2nd base by Kennedy). FIELDING DP: 2 (Roberts-Fahey-Millar, Fahey-Millar).

Baltimore	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Burres (W, 2-1)	5.2	5	0	0	4	2	0	3.63
Johnson (S, 1)	3.1	1	0	0	0	1	0	0.00

Ohlendorf pitched to 2 batters in the 7th.

WP: Burres.
IBB: Hernandez, R (by Traber).
HBP: Fahey (by Traber).
Pitches-strikes: Kennedy 85-43, Ohlendorf 48-33, Traber 24-12, Chamberlain 19-11, Burres 88-51, Johnson 41-26.
Ground outs-fly outs: Kennedy 1-2, Ohlendorf 3-4, Traber 2-1, Chamberlain 1-0, Burres 8-7, Johnson 6-3.
Batters faced: Kennedy 17, Ohlendorf 14, Traber 6, Chamberlain 4, Burres 24, Johnson 11.
Inherited runners-scored: Ohlendorf 1-0, Traber 2-2, Johnson 1-0.
Umpires: HP: Jerry Layne. 1B: Phil Cuzzi. 2B: Jim Wolf. 3B: Ed Montague.
Weather: 82 degrees, cloudy.
Wind: 10 mph, R to L.
T: 3:08.
Att: 41,776.