It did not help that Ian Kennedy (the Yankee’s 4th starter) had his worst outing since playing Hawaii Winter Baseball, where he was shelled for 8 runs in 1 and 2/3 innings. This wasn’t as bad, but still out of character for Kennedy. His outing today was dismal, and it breaks down like this in the box score:
Ian Kennedy (L,0-1) : IP-2 and 1/3, 4 hits, 6 runs (all earned), 4 walks, and 2 K’s, for a 23.14 ERA! Yikes!
It did not stop there, as the Yankees gave up 7 more runs in the 8th inning, negating the 4 runs scored in the 3rd to bring them back within striking distance (6-4).
Was some of this still left over from the spring training brawl that broke out over Shelley Duncan’s slide into 2nd base? If it was, they didn’t display it on the field, but I am sure that it was somewhat sweet revenge for those Ray players who were involved in the scrum.
As far as the suspensions go, both players for the Yankees, Melky Cabrera and Shelley Duncan, dropped their appeals (scheduled to be heard on Monday), and are going to serve their suspensions. As they both commented earlier, it is just the right thing to do for the team. Cabrera started serving his 2 game suspension Friday, and Duncan will begin serving a 2 game suspension of his own on Monday.
Jonny Gomes also withdrew his appeal, and saw his 2 game suspension get reduced to 1 game, which he served Friday. So hopefully that little disagreement is behind both clubs, and soon enough all suspensions will be served, with Duncan’s ending on Tuesday, the Yankees first game of 3 against those surprising Kansas City Royals (coming off a solid sweep of the mighty Detroit Tigers to start the season) at Kansas City.
As much as Yankee fans wanted this one, they are going to have to wait until Saturday as we send Andy Pettitte, fresh off the DL with back spasms, to battle it out with the Rays’ Edwin Jackson, a hard throwing right-hander that has been known to click up triples digits on the gun. Hopefully, the Yanks are ready to swing against this guy, they will see a fair share of heat for strikes. A good recipe for long balls, all day long!
Your Yankees fall hard, today, to the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays by a score of 13-4. Their record slips to .500 at 2-2. Look for Pettitte to have a strong outing tomorrow, barring a flair-up of that back.
