MVN - Most Valuable Network

Game 38: Yankees at Tigers (W)

Yankees (18-19) vs. Tigers (16-21)

Darrell Rasner (1-0, 3.00) vs. Jeremy Bonderman (2-3, 4.17)

May 10, 2008 @ 3:40 p.m. @ Comerica Park

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Yankees	2	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	0		5	9	0
Tigers	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0		2	7	0
Darrell Rasner (W, 2-0) Jeremy Bonderman (L,2-3) Mariano Rivera (S, 10)

Preview: The Yankees look to bounce back from last night’s loss by sending Darrell Rasner to the mound for his second start of the year. Rasner looked very solid in his first trip to the hill, and the Yankees hope to see similar performances from him as they wait for Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy to return from injury and ineffectiveness. The Yankees have yet to defeat the Tigers this season, losing all four contests against the struggling Detroit club. One of Detroit starter Jeremy Bonderman’s two wins came against the Bombers on April 30th, as he battled back from early ineffectiveness to toss 7.2 innings of two run ball. The Yankees need to force Bonderman to throw a lot of pitches and get into the weak Tigers bullpen.

In the field, Wilson Betemit gets the nod again at third base. Considering his misadventures last night, I am a bit surprised that Morgan Ensberg is not getting another chance. It seems that they are committed to Betemit, as they even gave him the shot at a lefty starter last night. I wonder if Ensberg will be the one to go once A-Rod returns. On another note, Jason Giambi and Robinson Cano seem to be slowly recovering from their early season slumps. Hopefully they can continue to improve while carrying the Yankees to a victory and a .500 record.

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Recap: The Yankees broke the Tigers’ hold over them and climbed back to .500 behind another strong outing from Darrell Rasner. Rasner allowed 2 runs in 6+ innings, one of which was given up by Kyle Farnsworth after Rasner allowed a leadoff single in the seventh. Following a first inning homer off the bat of rookie Matt Joyce, Darrell allowed just 3 more hits and one walk while throwing only 87 pitches. Farnsworth had a rough start to his inning, allowing a single and a run scoring double, which seemed to signal that Kyle’s recent improvement was just a mirage. However, he followed that up with a soft popup by Renteria, a strikeout of Pudge after coming to a 3-1 count, and a popup by Polanco to end the inning and escape a 2nd and 3rd, no one out jam. All in all, a nice recovery for Farnsy. Joba and Mariano closed out the game in the usual fashion.

The lineup did a nice job, working counts and chasing Jeremy Bonderman in the 5th inning. Derek Jeter had two hits and his first home run of the year, while Jason Giambi and Robbie Cano both reached base twice, each with a hit and a walk. On the negative side, Melky Cabrera seems to be slumping and Wilson Betemit left with a strained hamstring after an RBI double.

On the whole, some positive signs can be taken from this game. 1) Rasner throws strikes, works quickly, and seems to be pretty calm on the mound. They should continue to send him out there as long as he remains at least moderately effective. He has earned it. 2) Kyle Farnsworth would have given up three runs in that spot last year, or at least walked Pudge when the count was 3-1. He recovered for the K, and showed some fortitude after a poor first two batters. 3) Cano went 1-3, but hit the ball hard on both of his outs. Giambi looks better at the plate as well. 4) Mariano Rivera is awesome. Where are the people who spent the whole offseason telling us he was on the way down?

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 10th, 2008 at 2:28 pm and is filed under Off the Facade. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.