Yankees 3 Red Sox 1: Igawa Cues Sinatra

The Yankees finally put their losing streak to bed yesterday, beating Boston by a 3-1 score at Yankee Stadium. The win ended the 7 game slide and evened the weekend series in the Bronx. It was clear that somebody was going to have to step up and lift this team on his back to a win. On a team full of stars, the boost came from a rookie long reliever.

Jeff Karstens got the start. The first hitter he faced, Julio Lugo, lined a ball off Karstens’ leg. Jeff suffered a broken fibula in his right leg. Somehow Jeff remained in the game to face another hitter, Kevin Youkilis, who lined a single to left. Joe Torre had seen enough and pulled the young starter. The fractured leg is a terrible break for a young guy with at least fifth starter potential. Jeff was sidelined early in the year with elbow problems. Now he will be on the shelf for a while after his second start of 2007. It is tough not to admire his courage. He tried to pitch on a broken leg, showing a warrior’s mentality. The Yanks should not forget about this effort. Every team should be blessed enough to have guys with this much heart.

Whether Karstens’ effort had a Willis Reed effect on the team will never be clear. What can be deciphered is that Kei Igawa pitched the game of his life in long relief. With 2 on and 0 outs in the 1st, Kei got David Ortiz to ground into a double play and escaped the 1st unscathed. This was a springboard for Igawa on his way to 6+ dazzling shutout innings of 2 hit ball. Igawa had great command of his stuff yesterday, and Boston was left punchless.This was exactly the kind of lift that the Yankees needed. The team finally got a great pitching performance from a starter if one ignores the technicality that this was officially a relief outing. Igawa showed that the team jumped the gun by sending him to the bullpen so soon. This was the kind of outing the Red Sox expect from Daisuke Matsuzaka. Kei gave the Yanks the lift they needed. He surely pitched his way back into Karstens’ rotation spot.

The Yankees got their offense from Jorge Posada, who drilled a 2 run homer off Tim Wakefield. Melky Cabrera added an RBI double on a blooper to left as an insurance run. It was the classic case of the adage that things always even out. Earlier in the game, Melky hit the ball hard but right at Coco Crisp. Aside from that, the offense was a case study in not delivering the key hit. New York left 12 men on base. The Yanks were lucky that Igawa could carry the load because the bats did not. Maybe this win will get the hitters to relax and stop trying to play hero.

With the rest of the bullpen exhausted, Joe Torre called on Kyle Farnsworth in the 8th. Farnsworth has pitched well in low pressure spots lately. He had earned a chance in a critical spot. It was the highest pressure situation of the season so far for the team. Farnsworth sure made things exciting by giving up a run and letting the tying runs reach, but he struck out Coco Crisp to end the inning with some assistance from an unusually large strike zone. As usual, even when Farnsworth came through, he made everybody sweat. The important thing is that he gave Mariano Rivera a lead.

Mo came on and recorded his first save of the year. He was in vintage form, retiring the side while allowing only a single baserunner. He was aided by a great barehanded play by Alex Rodriguez on a slow roller from Julio Lugo. A-Rod’s transformation into a clutch player so far has not only been with the bat. That play showed that he can help save a game even when he goes 0 for 4. As for Mariano, this should springboard him onto a typical Mo year. Based on his track record, there is no reason to expect otherwise.

The Yankees are now in position to go on a run. The first win is always the hardest to get. Now the pressure is off, and everybody can relax. New York has a favorable schedule coming up and Mike Mussina ready to return. New York also has a major pitching edge in the rubber match of the series with Boston, sending Chien-Ming Wang against Julian Tavarez. The important thing to take away is that one bad week in April does not make a season. Kei Igawa not pouting over his demotion and staying ready for his chance is the reason we can now reflect like this on the losing streak in the past tense.

Red Sox 11 Yankees 4: Unlucky Seven

The Yankees’ losing streak grew to 7 after an 11-4 loss to Boston on Friday night. The game was the opener of a weekend series in the Bronx. Over the course of this losing streak, something different has gone wrong for the Yankees in every game. Sometimes the team has not hit. Sometimes the starting pitching has been poor. Sometimes the bullpen has been brutal. This was the game where everything came together to create a perfect storm of futility.

Andy Pettitte was the biggest culprit. He entered the 5th inning having only given up a 2 run homer to Kevin Youkilis in the 2nd. The offense had just broken out against Daisuke Matsuzaka, scoring 4 in the 4th to give the Yanks a 4-2 lead. That is the time an ace has to step up and end a losing streak. The Yankees have been playing terrible baseball. Pettitte has been one of the few exceptions. He needed to lock down the Boston bats, keep the momentum on New York’s side, and deliver a win. Instead, the Sox scored 3 in the 5th to take the lead right back. Boston scored the tying and leading runs with 2 outs without even putting the ball into play. Pettitte walked J.D. Drew with the bases loaded and threw a wild pitch with Jason Varitek hitting to let the 5th run home. Pettitte has been the lone bright spot in the rotation this season. He has come through in spots like that many times before. It is tough to bury him too much for this outing, but the team was in a desperate spot. Instead of delivering a great outing, all he delivered was a Boston lead and another long night for the bullpen.

The overworked bullpen let this game get out of hand. Scott Proctor and Luis Vizcaino both gave up big tack on runs. Mariano Rivera pitched the 9th inning and got lit up for 4 runs on 3 hits. He was pulled after getting only a single out. Rivera getting pulled in the middle of an inning was a rare sight. It certainly was not fun for Yankees fans. If there is any solace in this, it is that Mo got pulled early in a 2005 game against Boston and went on to have a Cy Young caliber season. Either way, the relief corps failed in their job to keep it close and give the offense a chance.

The offense had its own issues. Aside from the 4th, the bats were silent. Even in that inning, Matsuzaka walked the bases loaded with no outs and would have escaped the jam with minimal damage had the Yanks not hit seeing eye singles. Bobby Abreu and Robinson Cano looked especially lost at the plate. The duo went a combined 0 for 9 with 5 strikeouts and 12 men left on base. That line does not even begin to express how brutal their at bats were. Cano struck out swinging at a pitch in the dirt and looking at a meatball right down the middle of the plate. In the short term, Abreu should be dropped in the order. He needs to figure out his swing. Until he does, his at bats should be limited.

Every prolonged slump reaches a rock bottom point. In 2003, the Yankees were no-hit by 6 Houston pitchers. In 2004, the team was swept at home by Boston in April. In 2005, New York lost a brutal extra inning affair to Oakland. In all of these cases, the team bounced back and went on a surge. This loss might finally be the turning point. The team has to be embarrassed with its play. Almost everybody melted down in this loss. Defeats cannot be any more brutal than this. Can they?

Igawa Demoted

The Yankees have announced that Kei Igawa will be dropped from the rotation once Mike Mussina comes off the disabled list. This move does not make any sense. The team made a big investment when it signed Kei. Igawa needs a chance to prove himself. It takes more than 4 starts for any real negative evaluation, especially when 2 of those starts were good. It also means that Phil Hughes is staying in the Majors. The Yankees need to limit his pitch count and gradually build his stamina. Phil also could work on his repertoire. It is frankly disturbing to see the Yankees panic with such a knee-jerk reaction because of a single rough week.

Blue Jays 6 Yankees 0: Score Matches Futility

The Yankees saw their losing streak grow to 6 last night after a 6-0 loss to the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium. New York fell to 8-12 as Toronto swept the 1 game “series” in the Bronx. This ruined the debut of Phil Hughes. Years from now, people may look back on this game as the start of one of the greatest pitching careers in baseball history. In the short term, the Yankees could not be playing worse as the Red Sox come to town.

Phil Hughes’ Major League debut would look ugly if one only looked at the box score. His 4.1 innings, 4 runs, 7 hits line appears very unimpressive on the surface. However, Hughes showed flashes of dominance. He clearly had some jitters in the 1st, when he gave up a pair of runs on 3 hits. From that point, he settled down. Toronto had 1 man reach base in the next 3 innings as Hughes struck out 3 men in these frames. Phil tired in the 5th inning, giving up a pair of hits as he reached his 90 pitch limit. Both runners eventually scored. The result hides the positives from this start. Hughes showed that he belongs. His 12 to 6 curveball was devastating. His fastball had some giddy up. His mental makeup is as good as advertised as he shook off a rough start to the game. He is ready to compete on this level. However, the Yanks would be wise to send him back to AAA Scranton once Mike Mussina returns to action. Phil needs to work on developing his changeup and locating his fastball more consistently. His arm is not ready for the rigors of Major League Baseball. It is still being conditioned to handle that kind of workload. He can only throw so many innings this season. It would be best to limit him now so that the team can use up the majority of those innings late in the year. On the Major League level, the most important thing is winning. Joe Torre might be tempted to keep him in games longer than his arm can handle if he gives the team a better chance to win. In AAA, the Yanks can monitor and control his outings better. Hughes was very impressive. He should be called up for good later in the year. He showed that has the stuff to be an ace for a very long time. Unless he gets hurt, it would be shocking for him to be anything less than an elite pitcher.

The Yankees could not hit A.J. Burnett at all. Burnett gave up 4 hits in 7 shutout innings. The offense has not been much of a concern. This game does not change it. Burnett has some of the best stuff in baseball. He is very tough to hit when he is on top of his game. The lineup has been great all season. This was just a single bad game against a talented pitcher.

The Yankees now enter a weekend series against Boston playing terrible baseball. Ideally, the team would carry some momentum into this series. Maybe this will not be a terrible thing, though. New York was riding high heading into Boston last weekend and got swept. There is no such thing as a must-win series in April. However, this is about as big of an early series as the Yanks could have. They are 5.5 games behind the Sox. The team does not want to dig itself too big of a hole to climb from this summer. With Pettitte and Wang due to pitch, New York could really use 2 of 3. That would stabilize things and keep Boston from breaking too far in front. It is not that a bad weekend ends this season, but the Yanks eventually do have to get this thing turned around. This would be a fine place to start.

Blue Jays at Yankees Postponed by Rain: When Rain Is Good

Last night’s game between the Yankees and Blue Jays was rained out. No makeup date has been announced yet. This washout was a break for New York. Not only does a tired bullpen get a desperately needed day off, but last night’s starter, Andy Pettitte, can shift back in the rotation to pitch Friday night against Boston. That means that New York will have its top two starters, Pettitte and Chien-Ming Wang, going in the rematch of last weekend’s set at Fenway Park.

Devil Rays 6 Yankees 4: Cellar Dwelling

The Yankees were swept out of Tampa Bay last night. The team’s 6-4 loss to the Devil Rays brought New York’s losing streak to 5 games. It also dropped the Yanks into last place in the American League East with an 8-11 record.

The good news is that Chien-Ming Wang is back. New York’s ace picked up right where he left off last season, tossing 6.1 good innings. He gave up 4 runs, but 2 of them came in the 7th inning, when he seemed to tire since his stamina is not all the way there yet. He gave the Yankees everything they could have asked from him. He went into the 7th despite being on a pitch count. He held down Tampa Bay’s offense, giving the team a quality start even if it was not the textbook definition. Things are starting to fall back into place. Wang is back. Mike Mussina is not far behind. The Yankees’ pitching is starting to round back into form.

Alex Rodriguez went 0 for 3 to end his hitting streak to start the year. He has now hit safely in only 18 of 19 games. Apparently he is human. After carrying the team early in 2007, he is certainly entitled to an off night, especially when facing a challenge like Scott Kazmir.

Derek Jeter had to leave the game in the 1st after being hit in the thigh with a pitch. He has a bruise and is day to day. This is the ultimate case of having no need to panic over an injury. He got hit in a fleshy area. There is no structural damage. There is no way for him to make the injury worse. It is all about his pain threshold during the time it will take the ailment to heal. Knowing Derek, he will be back sooner rather than later. The team might hold him out of a few games for precautionary reasons, but he likely will need to be physically restrained to miss part of the series against the Red Sox this weekend.

This game’s underperformer of the bullpen award goes to Mike Myers. After Wang recorded an out, he tired and gave up a pair of hits in the 7th. Luis Vizcaino came in only to get 1 out and offer an intentional walk in what should be considered an off day given how much he has pitched. Myers entered with a 3-2 lead and 2 outs. The only hitter he faced, Carl Crawford, launched a game-winning grand slam to right. The Rays had a 6-3 lead and never looked back. Myers typically pitches to a single hitter per game. This normally comes in a high stakes spot. This was the second time in less than a week he has failed. It would be going overboard to call for his head after a pair of bad outings, but he does need to get his act together. He is not a Mike Stanton type. He is not very useful against righties. He cannot give significant innings. All that he is good for is one lefty hitter and mopup work. Anybody can do mopup so Mike’s performances against tough lefties need to get better or he will have little to offer.

It is funny how April swoons can bring about overreactions. When the Yankees struggle in July, they are usually well over .500 so nobody raises an eye. When the team plays poorly in April, everybody panics because they see the team on the bottom of the standings, no matter how small the sample size of games is. Losing streaks stink, but every team has them. The Yankees have spent most of the season without two of their top three starters. They have been treading water. This team started 8-11 in 2004. It finished the year with 101 wins. The team started 8-11 in 2005. It finished the year with 95 wins. The Yanks won the AL East in both seasons. That should be evidence enough to show that the year is far from a lost cause. Times like these show why the team needs Joe Torre at the helm. With a portion of the fanbase calling for his head, the Yankees are not going to remove him. Dismissing a guy with Torre’s track record this early into the season would be a total panic move. It would destabilize the clubhouse. Players would be stunned. The season could fall apart. Torre is the best in the game at keeping an even keel, which is what the team needs at this point. Nobody needs to press just because the past week has been rough. Everybody just has to keep on plugging away as they would normally. This team is too talented for good results not to eventually come. Joe is not perfect. He has made mistakes this year. However, he knows how to get this team back on track. The Yankees are lucky to be run by him instead of those calling for his head in reactionary fashion. Overreacting to every little bump in the road did not work too well for the team in the 1980’s. It will not now either. The team will get back on track. Andy Pettitte will try to take the first step tonight against Toronto.

Hughes to Start Thursday

Phil Hughes will make his Major League debut on Thursday against Toronto. The Jays will provide a stiff first test for the game’s best pitching prospect. This move was expected at some point in 2007. That it came this soon is something of a surprise.

The Yankees needed to find a starting pitcher. Injuries necessitated it, and Chase Wright showed that he is not ready for the show. He makes too many mistakes for the Major League level and needs to work on dealing with tough spots. Hughes has the stuff to produce right off the bat, including his mental makeup. The problem with this is its timing. Hughes has been publicized to the point where he has to deal with unfair expectations. Now that the Yanks are turning to him in April with the staff struggling, they will get even higher. The rookie will be portrayed as a savior. He will be expected to turn things around completely. Considering the hype that would surround him already, it would have been best to minimize the pressure by calling him up in the dog days of summer. At that point novelty in the new season will have detracted interest, and the team would ideally be playing much better. Thats means he would have to fit in, not save the year.

Hughes may well have the stuff to deal with everything. He may come out and dominate, but this was a panic move. The safer move would have been to call up Ross Ohlendorf, who is pitching well in AAA, and let Hughes dominate the minors for a little longer. Allowing him to hone his stuff and gain confidence would not have been terrible. If this does not work, the Yankees will have used up their literal ace in the hole remarkably early in the year, letting Roger Clemens know that there is no backup plan and driving his price up in the process.

The silver lining is that Hughes has a good chance of shutting me up. He has THAT much talent.

Devil Rays 10 Yankees 8: Pitching a Losing Streak

The Yankees dropped their fourth straight game tonight. The Devil Rays triumphed in the first contest of a short early week series at Tropicana Field by a 10-8 score. During this slide, the offense has done its job. Tonight was no exception. The defeat was the result of more lousy pitching.

Kei Igawa was nothing short of dreadful. The Japanese lefty gave up 7 runs on 8 hits in 4.1 innings. Every time his offense gave him support, Igawa handed the Rays those runs right back. He had absolutely no command as he walked 3 and left Tampa Bay plenty to hit. Kei does not have overpowering stuff. He relies on great control over where his pitches end up. When he fails to locate, the results are disastrous. After a rough weekend in Boston, Igawa did not have to dominate. What he did have to do was go deep enough into the game to get the bullpen some rest and hold Tampa Bay down enough for the offense to take control. He did neither. The optimism he built from his past two starts is gone. He is starting to look like a lefty version of Jaret Wright, a guy who shows glimpses but can never put things together consistently. Igawa is going to get more chances, but if he cannot start giving the team consistent quality starts, he is going to be relegated to the bullpen eventually.

Alex Rodriguez showed no signs of slowing down in this game. He went 4 for 5 with 2 homers, 3 RBI’s, and 4 runs. He also made a brilliant diving stop in the field to end the 1st inning, saving at least 1 run in the process. A-Rod displayed terrific baserunning as well by beating out Elijah Dukes’ strong arm on a pair of occasions. Alex has lifted this team onto his back thus far in 2007. His second homer in the 9th tied Albert Pujols’ April record of 14. He did everything he could to try and end this losing streak.

Hideki Matsui was 0 for 2 in his return. However, he did draw a pair of walks and make a great throw on a play at the plate that Jorge Posada could not handle. That was on Jorge. The runner should have been out. The Yankees survived without him offensively. The team also will downgrade defensively in leftfield with Melky Cabrera out of the picture. It still is great to have a consummate professional like Godzilla back in the lineup.

Jason Giambi and Robinson Cano were the other hitting stars. Giambi went 3 for 4 to bring his average up to .310. Cano had a pair of hits. He is now hitting .324.

Tonight’s isolated bullpen meltdown awards went to Brian Bruney and Luis Vizcaino. After working out of the 6th inning, Brian allowed the first 2 hitters of the 7th to get on base. The overworked and struggling Luis Vizcaino (Get him rest, Joe!) gave up a walk and the double to B.J. Upton, allowing all 3 runners to score. This turned a 7-6 nailbiter into a 10-6 game. Colter Bean, Mike Myers, and Mariano Rivera all pitched well in relief. Isolated bad outings have been part of the losing formula since Friday night. First it was Mariano Rivera. Then it was Scott Proctor. Now it was Bruney (with an assist from Vizcaino). Every night at least one reliever even from a vaunted bullpen is probably going to be off. Since the Yankees cannot get any starter to go deep into a game, they inevitably put in the bad reliever.

The lineup left the bases loaded in both the 6th and 8th innings in big spots. In both instances, Melky Cabrera made the last out. 2007 has been a struggle for Melky so far. After a rough spring, he has hit only .200 so far in the regular season. It was easy to have worries that the team might send him to AAA, but thankfully it appears that the Yanks will stick with him. This would be refreshing. Melky is a good player. In the past, the Yankees have been unwilling to stick with youngsters through tough times. This is all part of developing quality players, though. Patience is key. Sending him down would be a knee-jerk reaction. The team needs to help him work through his problems, not punish him. That does not mean that he has to hit in the leadoff spot while struggling, though. Either way, the pitching gets more blame for the loss. The offense could have done more, but it chipped away at the lead constantly only to see the pitching give runs right back. 8 runs should be enough.

The 8th inning rally was not helped by Johnny Damon’s popout in foul territory for the inning’s second out. Akinori Iwamura reached into the stands to make the grab. People wearing Yankees gear were in the area, and all dodged the ball. That is unacceptable. When the ball falls over the stands, it is fair game. Fans need to do whatever it takes to make sure opposing defenders to not catch it, not run away like the plague. If people are afraid of the ball, they should switch tickets with somebody else up to the responsibility. Those fans helped to kill a rally. Sitting up close means taking one for the team and knocking the ball down.

Johnny Damon did not start due to back pain. If this is serious, he needs to get on the shelf. Back problems do not go away through participating in strenuous activity like swinging a bat. The Yanks do not need Johnny at less than full strength. There is still plenty of time for him to get healthy. By sitting down, he will give Cabrera the at bats he needs to work out of the slump.

The Yankees need a win. It is a good thing that their stopper is making his 2007 debut tomorrow night as Chien-Ming Wang will take the hill. The Devil Rays will be a good test. He will have to be good since Tampa Bay will counter with its own ace, Scott Kazmir. Despite all this, a rusty Wang still gives the Yanks more confidence that any pitcher they have started since Andy Pettitte on Friday night.

Red Sox 7 Yankees 6: Beantown Sweep

The Red Sox completed a sweep of the Yankees with a 7-6 win tonight at Fenway Park. The loss mercifully ended the first series of the new season between the old rivals. The clubs will renew the rivalry next weekend in the Bronx. The Yankees had to know that this would be a tough weekend. Boston had the edge in the pitching matchups. It might not have played out exactly according to the script, but the Sox ended up getting their desired result.

Chase Wright got the start for the Yankees. It was unclear what to expect from him. Asking him to rise to the occasion in front of the entire country in his second career start would have been too much to ask. The Yankees could only ask him for innings and to keep the team in the game. In the 1st and 2nd innings, he got himself into and out of trouble. He seemed to have hit his stride when he retired the first 2 hitters of the 3rd. Then Manny Ramirez crushed a homer to left. This unnerved him as he gave up a stunning 3 more consecutive solo homers to J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell, and Jason Varitek. It was a case of a young guy completely in over his head and losing his composure at the first sign of adversity. It happened so quickly that by the time Joe Torre could even get somebody throwing in the bullpen, the inning was over. Wright showed that he is not ready for the Majors, not that anybody could hold it against him. In AA, hitters might not take advantage of mistakes. Crowds also do not try and get into pitchers’ heads down on the farm. They do in the Majors. Chase clearly needs more seasoning. With Chien-Ming Wang coming back, Chase Wright appears heading back to Trenton or to Scranton.

The Yankees did hit Daisuke Matsuzaka hard. New York jumped right on him for 2 in the 1st inning and another run in the 3rd. After Wright’s meltdown turned a 3-0 lead into a 4-3 hole, the Yanks struck for single runs in the 5th and the 6th to take the lead. Daisuke ended up with a win, but he gave up 6 runs in 7+ innings, hardly an impressive outing. Doug Mientkiewicz and Jason Giambi all 2 hits, and Derek Jeter blasted a homer off the righty. Matsuzaka had the edge in this game because the Yankees had not seen him. The element of surprise typically favors pitchers, but that was not the case tonight. The Yankees might not have won a game in this series, but the Red Sox’s vaunted rotation did not register a single good start.

Colter Bean relieved Chase Wright and held Boston down. Had the Yanks held onto a lead they picked up, Bean would have gotten the win. He pitched 2 shutout innings while giving up 1 hit and 3 walks. Colter is a junkballer. He does not throw fast. His funky delivery gives the hitter an odd vantage point. He probably is not going to be much of a pitcher with the Yanks. There is a reason the team has not given him a look at the Majors despite a productive minor league career. His stuff is very hittable. Boston hitters left a few mistakes he made on the table. Once teams get a scouting report and film on him to get familiar, he probably will get hit. However, it would be nice for the Yankees to at least give him a shot. He has worked his way through the system and was a good soldier after waiting years for a chance. He probably will not be very good, but he has earned a chance to prove he can pitch well on the Major League level.

Scott Proctor has to go down as the goat in this game. He started the bottom of the 7th. New York was nursing a 5-4 lead. He gave up a pair of hits to start the inning and a 3 run homer to Mike Lowell to give Boston a 7-4 lead. He faced 3 batters and let all 3 score with his team trying to avoid a Fenway sweep. That cannot happen to a frontline reliever on this team.

Jonathan Papelbon blew the door off the Yankees lineup in the 9th inning. Johnny Damon popped out. Derek Jeter struck out. Alex Rodriguez ended the game with a weak grounder to third after a Bobby Abreu walk. New York could not have asked for better hitters to send up with the game on the line. It just was not meant to be.

It is important to not get too wrapped up with the sweep. It was definitely frustrating. Losing to Boston stinks. However, there is still a long season to play. The teams meet again next weekend in the Bronx. If the Yankees take 2 of 3, this weekend will not have meant a whole lot. The Yanks sent a pair of very inexperienced starters to the mound this weekend and still could have won all of the games. A pair of reliable relievers blew leads. That will not happen often. New York did pound the best three starters that the Red Sox had to offer without Hideki Matsui for all 3 games, Jorge Posada for most of the 3, and Johnny Damon for another. Papelbon might be good, but Jeter and A-Rod are not going to be held down in the clutch often. The Red Sox got the wins, but let us not act like they did anything to prove that they are far and away the best team that the American League East has to offer. The Yankees were up against a stacked deck over this weekend. There is still plenty of time for things to turn around. In the grand scheme of things, this series was not very significant. The baseball season is a marathon, not a sprint. Boston can print its April Champions t-shirts, but it still has a long way to go to accomplish anything meaningful.

Red Sox 7 Yankees 5: Karstens’ Debut Poor

The Yankees dropped the second game of their weekend series against Boston by a 7-5 score on Satuday at Fenway Park. The defeat clinched Boston a series win in the first meeting between the rivals in 2007. For the second straight day, the loss was on the pitching. There really was no culprit this time. The Yankees put a young guy into a very difficult spot.

Jeff Karstens’ 2007 debut was one to forget. The righty gave early 2-0 and 4-2 leads right back to the Sox. He finished with a 4.1 inning, 7 run, 9 hit, 2 walk line. He made mistakes, and Boston made him pay all day long. Karstens was in a tough situation. Coming off an injury, he was bound to be rusty. He had not faced Major League hitters in a real game situation since March. He was bound to not be sharp. Fenway Park against that lineup with that kind of pressure is not the place for a young pitcher to get his sea legs. Jeff had to go longer than he normally did because Joe Torre could not ask his bullpen to give 7 or 8 innings a day before Chase Wright started at Fenway. Karstens took one for the team. Once he settles down, he should help stabilize the back of the rotation. It was unfortunate that the team could not break him in with an easy opponent before sending him out against the Sox, but injuries made this start a necessity. With Carl Pavano gone until who knows when, a starting slot is his to lose. He pitched poorly against the Sox, but most youngsters would have in the same spot as well. It is tough to get too upset with him.

A silver lining is that the offense hit another one of Boston’s frontline starters hard. The Yanks hit Josh Beckett hard early in the game, scoring 4 in the first 2 innings. Beckett did settle down for a bit in the middle of the game, but an Alex Rodriguez RBI single knocked him out for good in the 7th and put the Yanks back in the game. A-Rod, Robinson Cano, and Derek Jeter had multi-hit games.

Kevin Thompson made a great baserunning play in his first start of the year that helped the 2 run 2nd inning develop. After he lead off with a double, he came far enough off second on a bouncer by Wil Nieves to draw a throw. The throw went wild, and both runners were safe and eventually would score. K.T. might have made it back even had the Sox not made an error. In that situation, the runner’s job is to try and bait a risky throw. Thompson did it to perfection. Even though it did not affect the outcome, small moves like that often do make the difference in Yanks-Sox games.

The bullpen did its job. Brian Bruney, Sean Henn, Kyle Farnsworth, and Scott Proctor shut Boston out over 3.2 innings, giving the offense a shot. Had Chase Wright not been listed as Sunday’s starter, Joe Torre would have been able to call on his vaunted relievers earlier in the contest, and New York might have won the game. However, Joe had to leave something in reserve for a AA starter pitching on national television. That factor will never show up in the boxscore, but it played a large role in the outcome.

A-Rod had a pair of hits, but the Yankees could not get him an at bat against Jonathan Papelbon in the 9th. Derek Jeter struck out, and Bobby Abreu flew out to end the game. Alex would have stepped to the plate as the go ahead run. This was going to be a tough game for the Yanks to win, but leaving the hottest hitter in baseball on deck with a chance to make a difference is frustrating.

The Yankees dug themselves a hole by losing on Friday night. Karstens coming out with a win was a lot to ask. They left it up to Chase Wright, who was pitching at A ball a year ago on national television to salvage a game in the most hostile environment he will ever face. That is a heck of a spot for a team to leave itself.