Game 1: D-Rays def. Yanks

So, when we drew up the plan for this series, it was just assumed that the Yankees would cruise to a win over 1-9 Edwin Jackson and the Devil Rays. Then, the fans could bite their nails off with a double-header of jitters with inconsistent starting pitching tomorrow. Friday was proof that things don't always go according to plan.

Final Score: Devil Rays 14, Yankees 4
WP: Edwin Jackson (2-9, 6.65 ERA)
LP: Mike Mussina (4-7, 4.97 ERA)

It's hard to know what went wrong in tonight's game.

Yes, the answer is "pitching." It's the why? that's puzzling. The Yankee offense failed to capitalize on opportunities in the first two innings against Jackson, who was wild from the start. Mussina, on the other hand, looked excellent through two innings. It appeared that the switch from Nieves to Posada behind the plate went without a hitch. If anything, Moose looked stronger than he's looked in his last few starts. He was spotting well, and there was some added life on the fastball.

In the third inning, maybe he lost some focus after Jeter was unable to get more than a glove on a ball back up the middle. Abreu then showed his trademark fear of the outfield wall eating him or whatever, missing a fly ball that should have been an out. Whatever the cause, Mussina imploded in the third, giving up four runs. Two were scored on a long homerun from BJ Upton that reached the first row of the upper deck in left field.

Mussina had a relatively easy fourth inning only to falter again in the 5th. Torre brought in Edwar Ramirez, the rookie, who had not been used in about two weeks. His rust was obvious. Ramirez had no hold on the strikezone. When he finally threw a strike, former Yankee farmhand Dioner Navarro hit a grand slam to make the score 9-0. Mike Myers ate 2 1/3 innings for the Yankees, but he and the rest of the 'pen (sans Villone) had their problems. Myers gave up one run, not terrible given the number of innings he pitched. Bruney was charged with three runs and had little control. Proctor pitched the 9th, giving up BJ Upton's second homerun before shutting down the rest of the side. Get it all out of your systems, I guess.

The big story of the evening was Shelley Duncan as the DH. He picked up his first major league hit and RBI in the 8th inning. What we've learned? Duncan takes huge cuts at fastballs. He also has one of the most amusing sprints down the first base line you'll ever see. Duncan exhibited much of what he did in the AAA All-Star game: he struggled to identify breaking pitches. He has a homerun swing, but it's also one that misses a lot. It's only one game and maybe unfair to judge so early. We'll see what he does tomorrow, if he's given the opportunity to play. Melky is supposed to be back in the line-up. Maybe Johnny or another player will be sat for one of the two games, opening up a spot for Duncan.

Blowout losses aren't the end of the world, but they make that Chien-Ming Wang loss from Thursday afternoon loom large. Had the Yankees picked up a victory tonight, they could have crossed their fingers for one victory out of two games tomorrow. Now, they have to cross everything crossable and hope there's some way Igawa and DeSalvo can pull out quality outings.

On an unrelated note, My9 here in the New York area has one of the worst news broadcasts I've ever seen. I left the television on following the Yankee game, and wow. The wrong graphics are shown for clips, there are awkward pauses between the lead-in and start of stories, the video jumps multiple times (including cutting off Joe Torre's postgame), and I just saw the anchor staff laugh over an earthquake in California as a carry-over into discussion about the weekend's weather. Brutal stuff.

As for tomorrow, it's a busy day for the Yankees as they continue this strange schedule of four-game series with a double-header against the D-Rays. Leading it off, a Saturday matinee:

LHP Kei Igawa (2-2, 6.97 ERA) vs. RHP Jason Hammel (1-0, 6.11 ERA)

MLB.com has DeSalvo listed to make this start, but everything else I've seen has Igawa starting. It makes more sense that way, so the Yankees can keep the extra pitcher until the evening. (Not that Joe will have much of a desire to call on Edwar Ramirez again.) If this schedule changes, I'll update, but for now it looks like Igawa. Hopefully the weather will be nice. Any chance for Igawa to break out those trademark shades is appreciated.

Jason Hammel has been working primarily out of relief. Ironically enough, his one outing this season that exceeded five innings was 6 2/3 innings of relief on June 13th. He was brought into the game to relieve Friday night's winner Edwin Jackson. In that outing, Jackson gave up five earned runs in 1/3 of an inning against Jake Peavy and the Padres. The Yankees have only seen Hammel sparingly: for 2/3 of an inning on July 12th and for 1/3 of an inning on July 14th. It's a big spot for Hammel, who was moved from being a starter in the Rays' AAA-affiliate to a reliever.

As for game two of the doubleheader:

RHP Matt DeSalvo (1-3, 5.87 ERA) vs. LHP J.P. Howell (1-3, 6.62 ERA)

DeSalvo will make his triumphant return to the Bronx for the third of this four-game series. When DeSalvo was first called up in May, he pitched well for the Yankees against the Mariners. He took a hard-luck no decision in his first outing with seven innings of one-run ball but won his second decision, with 6 2/3 innings and two earned runs. After those starts, DeSalvo never worked more that 4 2/3 innings. His last appearance for the Yankees was against the White Sox, in which he lasted just 1 1/3 innings. DeSalvo has pitched well enough in AAA to earn himself a chance, however. In his seven starts since returning to Scranton, DeSalvo has worked six innings or more all but twice. He took a hard luck loss against Louisville last weekend, lasting 7 1/3 innings and giving up just two earned runs. The Yankees hope they can catch lightning in a bottle for the second time with DeSalvo. As for me? I'll root for anyone caught reading The Legend of Sisyphus in a baseball clubhouse.

J.P. Howell has been the fifth starter for the D-Rays since June 3rd. He was sent down to AAA before the All-Star Break so he could continue to get regular work. His last major league outing came on July 5th against the Red Sox. It was a bad one for Howell, who lasted just 2/3 of an inning and surrendered six runs to Josh Beckett and the Red Sox. What Howell has going for him is that he's a left-hander who the Yankees haven't seen before. Both of these D-Ray pitchers saw Friday night that a starter with bad numbers can still stifle the New York Yankees.

Should be interesting, and possibly high scoring, affairs. Both games might come down to the bullpens.

The Yankee bullpen or the Devil Rays bullpen. Which is worse right now? Tough call, but the Yankees have Rivera. I'd take that edge any day.

Down on the Farm: S/WB kicked off their series at home against the Charlotte Knights, AAA-affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, with an 8-4 victory. On the Scranton side, this game appears to have been a bullpen affair. Colter Bean (remember him?) gave up four runs over three innings. That was all the Knights would get. Sean Henn contributed two innings, TJ Beam contributed three innings, and Charlie Manning chipped in with the 9th to keep the Knights off the board. TJ Beam picked up the victory and is now 2-2 with a 3.30 ERA. On offense, recent Yankee pickup Erubiel Durazo picked up an RBI, as did Kevin Reese. Chris Basak (it seems like he was never on the major league roster, doesn't it?) contributed with two RBI. But the big blow came from the bat of first baseman Eric Duncan, who hit a 3-run blast off of Jason Childers in the 7th inning.

Tomorrow, S/WB continues their series against Charlotte at PNC Field at 7pm ET. Tyler Clippard is scheduled to make the start. Clippard has struggled since being sent down to AAA. In his last outing at Indianapolis, he allowed four runs on six hits over 4 1/3 innings.