Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Kansas City Here We Come
Behind Bobby Abreu and Mike Mussina the Yankees took the final game of their series with Tampa last night, 6-1., salvaging a series split after losing the first two games. Moose was brilliant, allowing just two hits and one run over six innings. Tampa doesn’t look to have a great offense this season, but they are probably middle of the pack and have some dangerous players in the lineup, so this was a very encouraging outing. Moose’s fastball sat around 85 most of the night, but he had a great slow curve going that helped him keep the Rays off balance. I feel a little more comfortable that Mussina will be serviceable after this game than I did after his first start.
Abreu started the offense off with a two-run HR in the first inning, one of his three hits and a walk on the night. Hideki Matsui also chipped in a couple of hits.
The news wasn’t all good as Derek Jeter left the game with a strained quad and is being listed as day-to-day. While losing Jeter hurts, it shouldn’t be for too long. Also, having Wilson Betemit to replace him instead of my beloved Miguel Cairo makes it sting a little less. With Jason Giambi seemingly unavailable this looks like Morgan Ensberg’s chance for some PT. He hasn’t looked good at scooping throws at first although he seems pretty good at fielding batted balls.
LaTroy Hawkins finally pitched a full scoreless inning as a Yankee. I’m willing to give Hawkins a bit of a long leash because he has a long track record of being useful and he seems like a good guy, as well as our experience with Luis Vizcaino last year. It seems like the fans at the Stadium don’t care about that because he’s had the audacity to wear Paul O’Neill’s number. Hopefully he can get himself sorted out.
Next up, a three game set with the Kansas City Royals. They’re 4-2 and in second place in the AL Central.
To hammer home how early it is, here’s how the final AL standings would look if each team played to their PythagenPat record for the rest of the season.
AL East
TOR 121-41
BAL 98-64
TB 94-68
NYA 65-97
BOS 57-105
AL Central
CHA 105-57
KC 101-61
CLE 78-84
MIN 57-105
DET 26-136
AL West
TEX 94-68
OAK 90-72
LAA 84-78
SEA 76-86
Somewhere Steve Phillips is weeping.
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