I sound like a broken record, but if it ain’t broke…right? Well the Yankees were gifted another excellent pitching performance today by Mussina, this time, going 6 innings, and giving up only 2 hits. One of them, for the Rays only run of the game, came in the 3rd to Gomes. He sent that ball over the wall for a home run, with no men on base. Other than that, that was the entire offense today for the Tampa Bay Rays. In addition to the outstanding starting pitching from Mussina, again, we had 3 innings of shutout baseball delivered by the combination of Bruney, Farnsworth, and Hawkins.
The offense started early off the bat of Jeter getting on in the 1st. That was followed by a Bobby Abreu home run over the right field fence, bringing home Jeter. Abreu was at it again in the sixth when he hit a triple to set up the RBI opportunity. By the time he came to bat in the 7th inning he was only a double short of the cycle. He ended up walking, and payed off by 2 consecutive hits by Matsui and Cano.
The offensive star of this game was Bobby Abreu, and he had this to say to reporters after the game about his chance to hit for the cycle, and taking a walk instead, ”If you play like a team, you’re going to win some games. I don’t like to play individually.”
Other than having such an impressive couple of games from our pitching staff, the story making news around New York is Derek Jeter’s leaving the game early in the second inning due to what they are calling a strained right quadricep.
“Leg injuries aren’t an exact science,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “We’ll have to see.”
That means that we could be looking at something that would keep Derek sidelined for a couple of days, and then it is just a matter of working through it. Or we could be talking about a 15 day DL stay, that would take the captain away from his team, and most likely throw the whole baseball universe, that is the Yankees, out of whack.
I will keep you posted on any developments as they arise with Jeter. Until then, the Yankees win this game, 6-1, and split the series with Tampa Bay, bringing their season to 4-3, winning the last 2. Next up is Kansas City, away. Tuesday marks the official home opener for the Royals, at Kauffman Stadium, with a 3:10pm CT start. The Yankees will bring Phil Hughes (0-0) to the mound looking for his first win of the season, against Brian Bannister (1-0) coming off that very impressive showing in Detroit. This is the beginning of a very long road trip for the team, ending next Tuesday in Tampa Bay while spending the weekend in Boston, for the first of many games against “the enemy.” This is the first test of the year for this club, and they may be entering it without their captain. Only time will tell.
