Just to confirm what was expected, Edwar Ramirez was sent back down to the minors to make room for Joba.

Steve Conley reports that Eric Hacker, a pitcher for the Tampa Yankees, has a streak of 20 consecutive scoreless innings pitched.

You may remember, a week and a half ago, Hacker threw seven perfect innings in a game and was pulled because he had reached his pitch count.

Major League Baseball has handed Kyle Farnsworth a three game suspension (with an undisclosed fine) for "intentionally throwing a pitch at Manny Ramirez of the Boston Red Sox". Farnsworth has appealed.

In the better news department, Joba's back in town and will be available tonight. Peter Abraham says that Edwar Ramirez will likely be sent down to make room.

Previously, Jose Canseco had maintained that he had an ace in the hole in an unnamed steroids dealer whom he introduced to A-Rod. He called him "Max." Sports Illustrated has discovered that "Max" is Joseph Dion, a trainer in South Florida.

Paging Canseco's attorney. "... Jose has not spoken to this individual in some time and hasn't seen a photo from SI or from anyone else," Gregory Emerson, Canseco's attorney, told the Daily News. "Jose is unable to verify it or confirm it 100%. But at this point, it certainly sounds like the guy that he referred to as Max." He also told the Post that Canseco stands behind what he wrote in the book, "100%."

In the SI article, Dion denies being a "fan of steroids" as alleged by Canseco, saying "That's really, really funny because I am the one person that hates steroids." Dion also claims that A-Rod "hated" steroids when they worked together and "was one of the hardest working guys, and most natural guy" that he has ever met.

Canseco reponded to a phone call from SI, simply telling them to have Dion call him as he wants to speak to the trainer before he comments.

Dion does confirm parts of Canseco's story, including that Canseco introduced him to A-Rod. A-Rod confirms knowing Dion and working with him at various points, but the stories of how they met do not match up. A-Rod claims that he met him through Eddie Rodriguez, who worked at the Miami Boys & Girls Club.

While declining to comment on Canseco's allegations, A-Rod did have some things to say about Dion.

"He's a Christian man, a good man - a great man, actually," Rodriguez said. "I'm very friendly with Joseph, but I don't really see him that often," Rodriguez told reporters. "I've probably seen him this winter, four or five times in passing. ... In passing, [we talk] maybe three or four times a winter."

Via Steve.

As expected, Pete Kerzel reports that Jonathan Albaladejo was optioned to Triple-A to make room for Edwar Ramirez.

Rookie pitcher Phil Hughes logged his third consecutive rough outing tonight against the Orioles, allowing 5 earned runs on 5 and 1/3 innings pitched. The Yankees offense was cold, as well, and the Yankees lost 8-2.

Phil's 5 earned came on 8 hits and 2 walks along with just 1 strike out. He threw 97 pitches before being relieved by LaTroy Hawkins who threw gasoline and lighter fluid on the fire, giving up 3 earned runs of his own while retiring just one batter. Edwar came in and, after allowing an RBI single to score an unearned run charged to Hawkins, threw 2 scoreless to end the game. I guess that's a plus I'd take away from this one.

The Yankees offense seemingly amounted to two words: Chad Moeller. He'd be the other plus. Moeller reached safely on a Melvin Mora error in the fifth to score Robinson Cano. And then he homered in the 7th for the Yankees second run. Damon, Jeter, Abreu, Matsui, Cano and Melky also collected hits, but they just couldn't get anything going.

This line pretty much says it: 7 hits, 2 walks, 18 runners left on base. Ouch.

Sir Ian (0-1, 8.74 ERA) tries to right the ship tomorrow, facing off against Brian Burres (1-1, 5.40 ERA) at 7:05 PM ET.

Ed Price reports that Edwar Ramirez is back in the show. He does not have the corresponding roster move to open up a spot for Edwar, but calls optioning Jonathan Albaladejo "likely".

Kat O'Brien has the following Yankees issued statement from Joba Chamberlain:


Good to hear. We'll continue to keep them in our thoughts.

Let me preface this recap with the following: Moose is frustrating. This will be a given ALL SEASON. I don't see why anyone is acting surprised. As long as he is in the rotation (and doesn't somehow find Ponce DeLeon's fabled fountain of youth) this is what you will see. Mediocre starts with a few good ones mixed in. Basically a #5 starter on most playoff bound teams.

In any case, Mussina was mediocre last night and took the loss. Manny did most of the damage, taking Moose deep for a solo shot in the second and after a Pedroia singled in Jacoby Ellsbury, connected on a 2-run shot in the third. The Red Sox scored another run in the third to make it 5-0 when Youkillis, J.D. Drew and Varitek connected on 3 straight singles and that closed the books for Mussina.

Josh Beckett started the game for the Red Sox and was dominant for the first 4 innings before giving up a 3-spot in the fifth. Melky worked a walk, Damon followed with a double and Jeter drove in both and then came around on a Bobby Abreu double to make the score 5-3.

Jonathan Albaladejo then came in for 3 innings and allowed two runs in the fifth (Manny single, Youkillis single, J.D. Drew double) to get the game to 7-3 before turning the game over to Farnsworth and Billy Traber.

There was a little bit of drama with Farnsworth and Manny when Farnsworth threw a 97 mph fastball behind Manny's head in the 7th. The ump warned both benches and while the sportswriters and MLB/ESPN seem to want to make this into a bigger deal, no one on either team was particularly riled up. Heck, even Manny wasn't steamed as he even pointed out that A-Rod got hit on Wednesday by Boston reliever David Aardsma.

Finally, the Yankees did score two off Papelbon in the ninth (I like seeing that by the way - next time, when it is a save situation, knowing that you've scored a couple off their closer can't hurt the old pysche). Papelbon gave up a double to Jorge who scored on a Cano groundout and then a solo-shot to Melky (he's up to 3 now - remember, only 8 all of last season) before striking out pinch-hitter Hideki Matsui to end the game.

Last Friday, Chien-Ming Wang and Clay Buccholz met in Fenway Park and produced a highly entertaining pitchers' duel, as Buccholz gave up only a run on four hits and Wang pitched a two-hit complete game. Last night was a different story, however, as both pitchers failed to pitch more than four innings in a wild 15-9 victory for the Yankees in the first of a two-game set at the Stadium.

The Yankees slapped Buccholz around early, as Bobby Abreu and Alex Rodriguez went back-to-back in the first to put the Yankees ahead 3-1. They scored three more off Buccholz in the 4th, courtesy of an RBI double by Chad Moeller and a two-run single by Derek Jeter. That was enough for Buccholz as Terry Francona brought in Freddy Krueger aka Julian Tavarez, who thew a wild pitch that scored Melky Cabera as the Yankees went ahead 7-3.

Chien-Ming Wang entered the 5th with a four-run lead, but never made it out of the inning. Wang had to leave the game with the score tied 7-7 as he just couldn't get anybody out. Ross Ohlendorf came into the game and the Red Sox put two more runs on the board before Ohlendorf settled down and struck out the side.

The Yankees would score another four in the 6th to take an 11-9 lead, and that would be all they needed as the bullpen was solid from there on. Latroy Hawkins, Billy Traber and Brian Bruney pitched a combined four innings of scoreless ball along with yet another 4-run inning in the 8th for the Yankees to close it out with a final score of 15-9.

The Yankees will play their archrivals for the last time tonight until July 25 as Mike Mussina will be facing Josh Beckett for the second time. Game starts at 7:05 E.T.