Mike Mussina struggled with his command during all of spring training (save for 1 game). With it being 7 days since he last pitched, it was no surprise that Moose was completely rusty in last night's 6-4 loss to the Orioles. More worrisome was his fastball which was only hitting the mid 80s.
The Yankees starting pitching has stunk out the joint thus far. 3 starts and not one finishing 5 innings. Moose got tagged for all 6 runs on 8 hits and 3 walks in just 4 IP.
A-Rod or K-Rod?
The Yankees offense didn't get the job done either, continuing the early trend of failing with RISP. Adam Loewen raised his career mark to 3-1 against the Yanks despite a shaky 5 inning outing. Hideki Matsui and Robinson Cano delivered RBI hits in the 2nd to tie the game at 2, but Moose gave the lead right back. The Yankees loaded the bases in the 3rd, but Loewen retired Jason Giambi and Matsui to escape the jam.
Trailing 6-2, the Yankees had 2 on and 1 out, but Melky Cabrera (who has looked nothing like the Melky of last year) and Derek Jeter both grounded out. To make matters worse, earlier in the game, Jeter fouled a ball off his back foot, bruising a toe in the process. He would come out of the game after his final at-bat in the 8th.
The Yankees finally rally came in the 7th, down by 3. Jeter and Bobby Abreu started the inning off with singles, but Chad Bradford came on to strike out A-Rod (the boo-birds are having too good of a time). Lefty Jamie Walker K'ed Giambi before walking Matsui to load the bases. Robinson Cano already had 2 hits and 2 ribbies, but popped out to Miguel Tejada at short and the Yankees were done. For the 2nd straight night they went down in order in the 9th.
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X-Rays on Jeter's foot were negative and he expects to play today.
The Yankees pen had a great night, limiting the O's to one hit over 5 innings, 3 of them by Sean Henn.
Kei Igawa will try to give the Yankees their first quality start as he faces off against Danny Cabrera today at 1:05.
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