Starting Pitcher Wanted- Experienced Preferred

Take a way the 2-hour rain delay, and last night's game between the Yankees and Red Sox wasn't much different from the last time Mike Mussina squared off against Josh Beckett. Though this time Mussina was worse, only lasting 3 innings. But Manny Ramirez did the big damage to him and the Yankees again, hitting a pair of home runs by the time the 3rd inning was over.

But the final score of Red Sox 7 Yankees 5 didn't indicate just how far apart the two teams were in this game. The Red Sox have their own question marks about their pitching staff, but they have no questions about their ace. Josh Beckett gives the Red Sox something the Yankees don't have, a dominant ace. The Wanger is a very good pitcher, but he can't go out there and blow fastballs by people. On a night when you don't have your best stuff you can still win with a dominant fastball.

It also helps when you have a man possessed. Ramirez worked out hard in the off-season and has stated he wants to play six more year...in Boston. That's quite a reversal of the nonsense that has gone in years past. With David Ortiz hitting just .111, Man-Ram is carrying the team.

Ramirez blasted a Mussina offering to deep center for a 1-0 lead in the 2nd inning. Moose hit Jacoby Ellsbury with one out in the 3rd, and the Red Sox rookie promptly stole 2nd and moved to 3rd base on Chad Moeller's errant throw. Dustin Pedroia singled Ellsbury home for a 2-0 lead with the big guns coming up. But Ortiz is still a pop gun right and bounced into a force out. That brought up Ramirez with a man on 1st and two out.

Mussina shouldn't have even been throwing anything near the strike zone if he didn't want to internationally walk, ala Barry Bonds, to move a man into scoring position. But instead, the once dominant pitcher threw one right into Ramirez's wheelhouse, and Manny being Manny, he slugged it out of the park for his 495th career home run and 4-0 Red Sox lead. The Sox weren't done in the inning, however, as Kevin Youkilis, J.D. Drew, and Jason Varitek stroked consecutive singles for another run. Sean Casey finally flied out to end the inning and Mussina's misery.

Beckett, meanwhile, was dominant. He cruised through the first three innings, allowing a single base runner. In the 4th, the Yankees put two aboard on singles by Bobby Abreu and Alex Rodriguez, but Beckett blew a strike three fastball past Jason Giambi and caught Jorge Posada looking at a called third strike.

The Sox seemingly put the game out of reach with a couple of runs off of Jon Albaladejo in the 5th before the Yankees bats finally got back into the game in the 5th. Derek Jeter singled home a pair of two-out runs and Abreu followed with an RBI double. But Rodriguez, just 1-15 with runners in scoring position this year, fouled out to Varitek to end the the threat.

Jon Papelbon allowed 2 runs in the 9th in a non-save situation, including a solo home run by Melky Cabrera.

News and Notes

Joe Girardi is already considering splitting Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy in the rotation so as not to tax the bullpen, but Mike Mussina is not helping him out. Chien-Ming Wang and Andy Pettitte are going to have off nights such as Wang did on Wednesday, but when neither your number 3, 4, or 5 guys can guarantee innings, you're in trouble.

Manny Ramirez is 10-19 (.526) against the Yankees this season with 3 home runs and 8 RBI in 5 games. The only game he hasn't done damage in was Chien-Ming Wang's masterpiece on April 11. Ramirez had reason to be motivated this off-season. He's, in effect, in a contract year. The Sox have two $20-million options on him, which they will not take. A more like scenario is a long term deal for a bunch of cash.

Harlan Chamberlain continues to improve and there is still no timetable for Joba Chamberlain's return. If God forbid you have ever been in this situation, and we have, you know you would much rather be with your family than at your job, no matter how exciting it may be.

Kyle Farnsworth finally heard some cheers from the Yankee Stadium crowd, but not for retiring any batters. He threw an upper 90s fastball behind Ramirez. We love buzzing a guy up and in, but throwing behind someone's back, even unintentionally, is just an asinine act. All it did was set up a future situation where A-Rod or Jeter or whomever, will get drilled.

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Burnett, Jays Make Yankees Blue

Mike Mussina came within one out of the vaunted "quality start", but his outing tonight was anything but quality. His performance was no better than what we saw for most of last season- an inability to control pitches, pitches left up in the zone, and a Yankees loss. If not for 3 double plays and Johnny Damon's thievery of Alex Rios' potential home run ball in the 6th inning the score could have been much worse.

On the flip side, A.J. Burnett was dealing. The oft-injured right-hander blanked the Yankees on 4 hits thru 6 innings before Alex Rodriguez slugged a 2-run shot off of him in the 7th. It was A-Rod's first home run of the season and number 519 for his career. But it wasn't enough as the Blue Jays toppled the Yankees 5-2.

Things started off badly for the Yankees right off the first at-bat. Jason Giambi mishandled lead off hitter David Eckstein's grounder for an error and Shannon Stewart and Rios followed with consecutive singles for the first run of the game.

Vernon Wells' 2-run homer in the 3rd inning gave Burnett enough of cushion for the night. The Blue Jays defense made sure Burnett's effort would stand up as well. Bobby Abreu was thrown out stealing in the first inning and after Derek Jeter reached on Burnett's fielding error in the 4th, he was gunned down at second when Rios retrieved Burnett's errant throw (preventing a double error on the play).

The Yankees had one more chance against closer Jeremy Accardo in the 9th when Jeter and Abreu opened the inning with singles. But Accardo blew a strike three fastball past A-Rod, retired Giambi on a deep fly to left center and got Robinson Cano to hit a game ending pop up.

News and Notes

Jorge Posada was in the original Yankees lineup, but was scratched after coming up with a sore right shoulder. Jose Molina went 1-3 and threw out two would-be base stealers.

Two season ticket holders were arrested during opening night when they try to steal some of the bunting and damaged the facade. In addition to possibly going to jail, they've had their season tickets revoked.

Morgan Ensberg got heat when he wore number 21 during spring training, but LaTroy Hawkins scooped it up anyway when Ensberg went with number 11 for the regular season. Yankees fans ridiculously booed Hawkins during Tuesday night's player introductions. Things didn't get any better tonight when Hawkins allowed a run in 1.1 innings.

Toronto	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Eckstein, SS	5	1	0	0	0	0	3	.000
Stewart, LF	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	.250
Coats, LF	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Rios, RF	3	1	2	2	1	0	0	.600
Wells, V, CF	4	2	3	2	0	0	2	.375
Thomas, DH	3	0	0	0	0	0	2	.143
Overbay, 1B	3	0	1	0	1	1	2	.286
Hill, 2B	4	0	2	1	0	1	1	.375
Scutaro, 3B	3	0	1	0	0	1	4	.167
Barajas, C	4	1	2	0	0	1	3	.500
Totals	33	5	12	5	2	4	18
BATTING 2B: Barajas (1, Hawkins). 3B: Overbay (1, Farnsworth). HR: Wells, V (1, 3rd inning off Mussina, 1 on, 2 out). TB: Stewart; Rios 2; Wells, V 6; Overbay 3; Hill 2; Scutaro; Barajas 3. RBI: Rios 2 (2), Wells, V 2 (2), Hill (1). 2-out RBI: Wells, V 2; Hill; Rios. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Thomas; Scutaro; Hill. GIDP: Wells, V; Barajas; Eckstein 2; Thomas. Team LOB: 5. BASERUNNING CS: Scutaro (1, 2nd base by Mussina/Molina), Rios (1, 2nd base by Hawkins/Molina). FIELDING E: Burnett (1, throw). Outfield assists: Rios (Jeter at 2nd base). DP: (Scutaro-Hill-Overbay).

Toronto	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Burnett (W, 1-0)	6.0	5	2	2	1	3	1	3.00
Tallet (H, 1)	2.0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0.00
Accardo (S, 1)	1.0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0.00

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, LF	4	0	0	0	0	1	2	.125
Jeter, SS	4	0	2	0	0	0	1	.375
Abreu, RF	3	1	1	0	1	0	1	.429
Rodriguez, 3B	4	1	1	2	0	2	2	.429
Giambi, 1B	4	0	0	0	0	1	2	.000
Cano, 2B	4	0	0	0	0	2	2	.143
Matsui, DH	3	0	1	0	0	1	0	.167
Molina, C	3	0	1	0	0	0	1	.333
Cabrera, CF	3	0	1	0	0	0	1	.333
Totals	32	2	7	2	1	7	12
BATTING HR: Rodriguez (1, 7th inning off Burnett, 1 on, 0 out). TB: Jeter 2; Abreu; Rodriguez 4; Matsui; Molina; Cabrera. RBI: Rodriguez 2 (3). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Cano. GIDP: Jeter. Team LOB: 4. BASERUNNING CS: Abreu (1, 2nd base by Burnett/Barajas). FIELDING E: Giambi (1, fielding). DP: 5 (Rodriguez-Cano-Giambi 4, Jeter-Giambi).

NY Yankees	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Mussina (L, 0-1)	5.2	8	4	3	2	2	1	4.76
Hawkins	1.1	2	1	1	0	0	0	6.75
Farnsworth	1.0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0.00
Ohlendorf	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0.00

Burnett pitched to 2 batters in the 7th.

HBP: Thomas (by Mussina), Scutaro (by Ohlendorf).
Pitches-strikes: Burnett 93-55, Tallet 22-16, Accardo 17-12, Mussina 91-62, Hawkins 16-14, Farnsworth 16-8, Ohlendorf 9-6.
Ground outs-fly outs: Burnett 9-4, Tallet 2-1, Accardo 0-2, Mussina 11-3, Hawkins 2-1, Farnsworth 2-0, Ohlendorf 2-0.
Batters faced: Burnett 22, Tallet 6, Accardo 5, Mussina 25, Hawkins 5, Farnsworth 4, Ohlendorf 3.
Inherited runners-scored: Hawkins 2-0.
Umpires: HP: Jerry Meals. 1B: Bill Miller. 2B: Paul Emmel. 3B: Gary Darling.
Weather: 44 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 22 mph, Out to RF.
T: 3:10.
Att: 48,544.

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