I hate these mediocre starts. I know most teams would be happy to start .500, but all it means for Yankees’ fans is a lot of much needed stress all the season. I mean, you KNOW the Yankees will win the division, you just get concerned that maybe, just maybe, this is the off year the Yankees are bound to have at some point in time. I mean, even the Yankees of the 1920s didn’t make it EVERY year.
On Friday, we made a rookie look pretty good. Scott Bake and the Twins pen held the Yankees to four hits, and the only run came on Derek Jeter’s ground out. Mike Mussina threw a nice game but it went to waste. He gave up three runs on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings of work. Kyle Farnsworth got touched up for the first time this season. I wonder what the deal is with his strikeouts. He has only three in 4 1/3 innings of work. I wonder if he needs longer outings. Four of his six games have been less then an inning.
Saturday was a major bummer. The Yankees had a one run lead going into the ninth inning, and Mariano Rivera blew the lead. Justin Mourneau singled home two runs against him to end the game. Derek Jeter had a big game. He went three for five with three RBIs. Jaret Wright was hit hard in three innings of work, but the pen, outside of Rivera, did a really nice job.
Sunday, things got back to normal. The Yankees blew out the Twins and Brad Radke. Jason Giambi homered twice and drove in three runs and Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez both went deep. Chien-Ming Wang had a nice start. He gave up two runs (one earned) on seven hits with eight strikeouts. Shawn Chacon had a tough relief outing, but Ron Villone closed things out in the ninth to finish the blowout.
The Yankees get the day off, then they travel to Toronto for a two game series. Then they FINALLY get to come home for a three game series against the Orioles.
