Rasner Calls Up a Win

Darrell Rasner gave the Yankees what they couldn't get from Phil Hughes or Ian Kennedy this year, a quality start and a win. Rasner, who took Hughes' place in the starting rotation while the much more heralded right-hander heals from a fractured rib, limited the Seattle Mariners 2 runs over 6 innings Sunday afternoon as the Yankees romped to an 8-2 win and a sweep of the 3-game series.

Rasner looked no different from either Hughes or Kennedy at the start, allowing a 2-out single to Raul Ibanez and a 2-run home run to Adrian Beltre in the 1st inning. But after that the 27-yr old right-hander allowed just four more hits over the next 5 innings and didn't walk a batter. And as they did all series, the Yankees offense jumped all over the Mariners' pitching.

A six run 3rd inning catapulted the Yankees into the lead and they never looked back. Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter, and Bobby Abreu stroked consecutive singles off of M's starter Carlos Silva for the first Yankees run of the day, and Hideki Matsui tied the game up with a ground rule double to left. The hit also extended Matsui's hitting streak to 14 games. Jason Giambi's sacrifice fly to deep left field brought home Abreu with the go-ahead run, and Melky Cabrera and Robinson Cano hit back-to-back blasts to right field for a 6-2 lead.

The Yankees knocked Silva out of the game in the 4th inning when Damon singled, stole 2nd Base, and came home on Jeter's double. Ryan Roland-Smith retired Abreu, but Matsui's single gave the home team an 8-2 lead.

Rasner ran into trouble in the 4th, when singles by Beltre and Yuniesky Betancourt put runners on the corners with one out, but the Yankees starter struck out rookie Jeff Clement and got Kenji Johjima to bounce into an inning ending force out. Overall, Rasner retired the last 8 hitters he faced before turning things over to the Yankees bullpen.

News and Notes

Derek Jeter went 4-5 on Sunday and 7-10 on the weekend to raise his average 37 points to .312. Johnny Damon went 7-14 in the series to boost his average 20 points to .295.

Melky Cabrera's home run was his 6th of the season after hitting just 8 all of last season. The fact that he leads the team in the category is not good though.

There was a lot of discussion during the game about Ian Kennedy's comments after hearing he was being sent down to Scranton. Basically IPK said he was glad to be going somewhere that every pitch won't be scrutinized and every game is not treated as the end of the world. Not exactly the things you want to hear from a player, especially an unproven player.

Paul O'Neill, who along with Bobby Murcer and Michael Kay handled the YES broadcast of the game, gave IPK a bit of an out by saying that some of the words may have been attributed to a guy who had gotten so beaten down. Either way, hopefully Kennedy keeps his focus, pitches well in Scranton, and makes way back the Bronx. Hopefully he'll also have time to reflect on the gravity of the statements he made.

May 4, 2008

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Seattle	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		2	7	0
NY Yankees	0	0	6	2	0	0	0	0	X		8	14	0

Seattle	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Suzuki, CF	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	.279
Lopez, 2B	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	.288
Ibanez, LF	4	1	2	0	0	1	1	.302
Beltre, 3B	4	1	2	2	0	0	1	.283
Vidro, 1B	4	0	0	0	0	1	1	.192
Betancourt, SS	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	.290
a-Bloomquist, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.160
Clement, DH	4	0	1	0	0	1	2	.214
Johjima, C	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	.184
Balentien, RF	3	0	0	0	0	2	1	.167
Totals	34	2	7	2	0	5	10
a-Grounded out for Betancourt in the 9th.
BATTING HR: Beltre (6, 1st inning off Rasner, 1 on, 2 out). TB: Suzuki; Ibanez 2; Beltre 5; Betancourt; Clement. RBI: Beltre 2 (13). 2-out RBI: Beltre 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Ibanez; Johjima; Balentien. Team LOB: 5. BASERUNNING SB: Suzuki (12, 2nd base off Rasner/Moeller).

Seattle	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Silva (L, 3-1)	3.0	11	8	8	0	1	2	4.20
Rowland-Smith	2.0	1	0	0	1	1	0	5.06
Lowe	1.0	2	0	0	0	2	0	4.50
Morrow	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1.69
Rhodes	1.0	0	0	0	1	2	0	4.26

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, LF	5	2	2	0	0	0	0	.295
Jeter, SS	5	2	4	1	0	1	0	.313
Abreu, RF	4	1	3	1	1	0	1	.306
Matsui, DH	4	1	2	2	0	1	4	.324
a-Duncan, S, PH-DH	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	.182
Giambi, 1B	2	0	0	1	1	1	4	.150
Cabrera, CF	4	1	1	2	0	0	4	.291
Cano, 2B	4	1	1	1	0	0	2	.154
Ensberg, 3B	4	0	1	0	0	2	0	.220
Moeller, C	4	0	0	0	0	1	1	.286
Totals	37	8	14	8	2	7	17
a-Struck out for Matsui in the 8th.
BATTING 2B: Matsui (6, Silva), Jeter (5, Silva). HR: Cabrera (6, 3rd inning off Silva, 1 on, 1 out), Cano (3, 3rd inning off Silva, 0 on, 1 out). TB: Damon 2; Jeter 5; Abreu 3; Matsui 3; Cabrera 4; Cano 4; Ensberg. RBI: Abreu (21), Matsui 2 (17), Giambi (14), Cabrera 2 (17), Cano (8), Jeter (16). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Giambi 2; Cano; Cabrera. SF: Giambi. Team LOB: 8. BASERUNNING SB: Damon (5, 2nd base off Silva/Johjima).

NY Yankees	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Rasner (W, 1-0)	6.0	5	2	2	0	4	1	3.00
Ohlendorf	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	0	5.14
Farnsworth	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	3.52
Rivera	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00

Silva pitched to 2 batters in the 4th.

Pitches-strikes: Silva 80-54, Rowland-Smith 40-22, Lowe 27-18,
Morrow 20-13, Rhodes 20-11, Rasner 76-49, Ohlendorf 16-10, Farnsworth 14-11, Rivera 8-6.
Ground outs-fly outs: Silva 4-4, Rowland-Smith 2-3, Lowe 0-1,
Morrow 2-0, Rhodes 1-0, Rasner 6-8, Ohlendorf 1-1, Farnsworth 3-0, Rivera 2-1.
Batters faced: Silva 20, Rowland-Smith 8, Lowe 5, Morrow 3,
Rhodes 4, Rasner 23, Ohlendorf 4, Farnsworth 4, Rivera 3.
Inherited runners-scored: Rowland-Smith 1-1.
Umpires: HP: Laz Diaz. 1B: Wally Bell. 2B: Mike Winters. 3B: Paul Schrieber.
Weather: 63 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 9 mph, Out to LF.
T: 2:51.
Att: 53,542.