From Peter A's LoHud Yankees Blog,


I certainly don't wish illness on anyone but I am a fan of Rasner and I think another great outing might start getting the Yankees brass to think about putting him on the postseason roster instead of say...Cory Lidle.

Jeff Karstens made his third start of the year for the Yankees and immediately fell into trouble, giving up a leadoff triple to Rocco Baldelli. Baldelli would score on a Delmon Young groundout and though Carl Crawford would get on, Karstens would eventually get out of the inning having given up only one run.

The Yankees were trotting out an interesting lineup (Joe wanted to his regular OF to rest and avoid the slick grass) and led off with Bernie, who lined out before Jeter singled to extend his hitting streak to 23. Cano, in the #3 hole, struck out and A-Rod flied out to left center. That would be all for the Yanks until the bottom of the second when Hideki Matsui, with two-outs, put together a very good at-bat and ended up homering to deep right on the 8th pitch of his at-bat.

The Rays took back the lead in the 3rd as with one out, Rocco Baldelli would take advantage of Karsten's fly-ball tendencies and hit a solo homerun. Karstens worked around a Delmon Young single, getting Carl Crawford to ground into a force out and striking out Greg Norton.

Karstens ran into trouble in the 5th and gave up two more runs when Rocco Baldelli (who else?) homered again following a Ben Zobrist single. The Rays wouldn't hold onto the lead very long as in the bottom of the same inning, the Yankees put up a 3 spot to tie the game. Matsui led off with a single and Aaron Guiel singled him over to 2nd. With first and second, no one out, Kevin Thompson and Bernie Williams couldn't do much and both struck out before handing the baton to Derek Jeter. Derek promptly singled to right to score Matsui and Robbie Cano stepped up with a double to plate both Guiel and Jeter. Tie game.

Darrell Rasner came on in the sixth and simply shut the Rays down for the rest of the game, going 4 strong innings with 1 hit allowed and striking out 5. Now, I mentioned this the other day over at Joseph P.'s Sporting Brews but I wanted to say it again. I would rather see Darrell Rasner being given a push and a chance to make the playoff roster than Karstens. Honestly, at this point, I would rather see him there than Lidle. This is only because Rasner has been on the AAA/MLB level for a couple of years now and more importantly, is more of a GB pitcher. That will certainly help in the playoffs when you face a strong line-up or pitch in a homer-friendly park. Now, I believe that Karstens will eventually become a GB guy because of the sinker of his but for now, I'd rather take the chance on the more experienced arm. I hope that Rasner gets another couple of opportunities to pitch and does well in those outings though I very much doubt that he makes the postseason roster.

In any case, the Yankees scored the winning runs in the bottom of the 7th when both Kevin Thompson and Bernie atoned for their earlier strikeouts with singles. With first and third and one out (a Guiel strikeout to start the inning), Derek Jeter struck out in front of Robbie Cano, who lashed another 2-run double to put the Yanks ahead. A-Rod was up next and singled home Cano to amke the score 7-4 Yanks, which would be the final.

Well, that's six in a row, the division lead is up to 11.5 and the magic number is down to 6. It makes this weekend series pretty anticlimatic, huh? I guess the only thing left to do for this coming series is to start chanting MVP when Jeter comes to the plate

From The Columbus Dispatch:


Via the official site.

According to contactmusic.com, Martin Scorsese wanted Jack Nicholson to wear a Red Sox hat during a scene in the movie "The Departed." But, he refused. So, he wears a Yankees hat in that scene. Good stuff.

Via Steve via Repoz.

Does anyone remember the 80's NFL films montage of John Riggins? Included in the footage is that huge 'skins fan who has been around for 25 years and wears the Chief Wahoo headdress...Ring a bell? Between cuts of Riggins running over people is this guy in his headdress, yelling "CRANK UP THE DIESEL!!"

That's exactly how I felt watching the Yankees last night. It's as if the trade deadline was the crest of a brutal hill that required maximum effort. After reaching the summit intact, the team seems to be slowly, inexorably gaining speed.

We all knew what they were capable of before the last Boston series. Similarly, we all know what they are capable of during the next 6 weeks.

As for Tampa Bay, their strategy seems to be: Carl Crawford is good. Let's develop as many Carl Crawford clones (Upton, Young) as possible. Not a bad idea. If this were the run-happy late 80's they would be breaking records for stolen bases as a team.

Alas, conventional wisdom has Lidle on the outside looking in to the playoff pitching picture after his poor performance last evening, i.e, 4 ER on 9 hits.

Robinson Cano was last night's offensive star, breaking out with 5 RBIs, including his 10th jack.

"Out of the blue, and into the black"...Alex Rodriguez, that is. When that ball left his bat I was a little scared as to where it might actually land. That's the reigning MVP asserting himself.

One more with TB. Then the possibility to close out the division against the once fearsome Red Sox.

From the New York Daily News:


Via Pride of the Yankees.

From MLB.com:


He was quoted as mentioning Derek Jeter. Hmm. I mean, I was surprised that he said it. Always possible that the media sensationalizes a story. But, saying he mentioned Jeter if he really didn't? Not sure.

Abreu's swing last night was the easiest long HR stroke I've ever seen. He looked like Ernie Els hitting a sand wedge. To drive a ball like that from what looked like an on-deck circle warmup swing? That's frightening talent.

Also, given Jeter's stinging rebuke to Ortiz's MVP kvetch, count me as worried that the Sox will look for spiteful, frustrated payback next weekend in the form of hit batsmen and similar tactics.

Hideki Matsui looked like he hadn't missed a beat in his return from the DL last night as he went 4-4 with a walk as the Yankees defeated the Devil Rays 12-4. The Yanks maintained their 10.5 game lead over Boston and their magic number to clinch the A.L. East stands at 9.

As good as Matsui was, the star was Bobby Abreu, who drove in more runs in the 1st inning than Tampa Bay scored all evening. Abreu was 2-3 with a 3-run homer and a bases clearing double, both in the first inning. He added a sac fly in the 3rd to drive in his 7th run, and later in the game hit a ball all the way to the end of the warning track with the bases loaded, but it was caught at the wall by Delmon Young.

Abreu's 6-RBI first inning was part of a 9-run first for the Yankees as they put the game away early. Mike Mussina was finally on his game again, throwing 6 and 1/3 shutout innings, allowing five hits and not allowing a baserunner until the 4th inning. T.J. Beam pitched an inning and 2/3 of scoreless relief before Octavio Dotel allowed four in the 9th, breaking the shutout.

Also of note, as James mentioned: Derek Jeter did not record a hit, but he walked three times and was hit by a pitch. Since he didn't record an official at-bat, his 21-game hitting streak is still intact.

You know things are good when you're 10.5 games ahead and then can all of a sudden add a bat like Matsui's on September 12. The Yanks will send Jaret Wright to the mound tonight to face Jason Hammel in the middle game of this 3-game set. Hammel is 0-2 this season with an E.R.A. of 5.61.

For those of you who are wondering whether taking Jeter out of the game tonight (0-for-0 with 3 walks) invalidates his hitting streak, here's the official MLB ruling:


So, it looks like the streak goes on.