NYY: Game 2: Yankees def. Royals

Chien-Ming Wang pitched well enough to win last night, but he wasn't his usual dominating self. Given the trend of no run support earlier this season, I'm not sure Yankee pitchers know what to do when they're given a lead...

Final Score: Yankees 9, Royals 4
WP: Wang (11-5, 3.57 ERA)
LP: Elarton (2-4, 10.46 ERA)

Well, Elarton came as advertised. He only lasted 1.2 innings for the Royals, giving up seven earned runs on six hits with two walks. Kansas City attempted to nibble away, with two runs scored in the bottom of the 2nd and 5th, but Wang was able to minimize the damage through six innings. Myers, Farnsworth, and Bruney pitched a scoreless 7th, 8th, and 9th respectively.

The amusement of the night came from Robinson Cano, who walked a career-high three times in one game. He was jokingly given the line-up card by Joe Torre afterwards.

This was a looooong game, around four hours. The Yankees kept their recent line-up balance, with every Yankee except Melky Cabrera getting at least one hit and every Yankee except Andy Phillips and Melky Cabrera scoring at least one run. The hitter of the night was Derek Jeter, who went 4-for-6 and scored a run.

As for tonight?

RHP Mike Mussina (4-7, 4.97 ERA) vs. RHP Gil Meche (7-6, 3.63 ERA)

A real test for the Yankees tonight. In these previous games, the Yankees haven't been facing the most quality pitching. Gil Meche will be a challenge for them. The all-star is coming off of a nice outing at Detroit, recording a win after allowing only two runs in seven innings.

Mussina, on the other hand, struggled in his last start. He lasted only 4.2 innings, his shortest since going four innings in his first start of the season. In those 4.2 innings, Mussina allowed six earned runs on seven hits. The line-ups aren't up yet, but I assume they'll insert Jose Molina into the mix tonight to see if they can work up a rapport between Mussina and Molina in the same way they built one between Mussina and Nieves. Jorge has been catching 9 innings in blowout games lately. He could use the break.

Injury news: Jason Giambi will begin his minor league rehab assignment on Friday night with Class A Tampa, according to Peter Abraham. Brian Cashman has said that there's no timetable as of right now for Giambi's return. One would assume the earliest we would see him is mid-to-late August. The discussions have already begun as to what this will mean for the club as it currently stands now. Obviously, I think it means Shelley Duncan returns to the minor leagues unless he really makes himself a fixture over the next few weeks. We'll see him again in September, but Giambi fills that "guy with a ton of power who shouldn't be playing the field" role for the team.

Where Giambi fits in, with Johnny Damon currently occupying the DH role, is an interesting question. As much of an upgrade as Melky Cabrera is over Johnny Damon in the field, it's hard to imagine the Yankees permanently returning Damon to CF, Giambi to DH, and Cabrera to the bench. But money is also a factor in these decisions. If they choose to stick with Cabrera in CF, the person most affected by Giambi's return will be Andy Phillips. I assume they would either try to plug Damon or Giambi in at first base, with Phillips available to come off the bench as a late-inning replacement. Either that or Phillips could risk a demotion back to AAA, with Cairo standing as the first base replacement. But with Mientkiewicz not yet on rehab assignment, I don't think there's a chance of Phillips being shipped off entirely yet.

There's no easy answer here, because there are a lot of deserving people on the roster right now who will be affected by Giambi's return. Then again, if Giambi is healthy, who wouldn't want his bat in an already potent Yankee line-up? The Yankees will have to evaluate how Phillips and Cabrera are progressing as everyday players. They'll also have to evaluate whether Damon is healthy enough to play the field more than once or twice a week. Same with Giambi at first base. I can see them wanting to move Phillips to the bench before they move Cabrera, but that all depends on Giambi and Damon.

Down on the farm: S/WB was back to playing those familiar Louisville Bats last night. The Yankees beat Louisville 4-0. Phil Hughes, making a rehab start for Scranton, had a good night. Six innings, two hits, one walk, and seven strikeouts with no earned runs. It sounds like Hughes will make at least one more start for Scranton to raise his pitch count closer to 90-100 pitches. Then, the orgainzation will evaluate whether Hughes is ready to rejoin the rotation.

Steven White ate up the last three innings in the S/WB win with a nice performance: 30 pitches, no hits, no walks, one strikeout, no earned runs. He recorded his first save of the season.

Tonight, the Yankees are at home again to take on the Bats. Making the start for Scranton? It's the anticipated AAA debut of Joba Chamberlain. The orgainzation hasn't written off the idea of bringing Chamberlain up as late-inning bullpen help (ala Jonathan Papelbon), but for right now they want to see what he does on the AAA level.

Edit 7:24: So much for my assumptions. Jose Molina will not be starting tonight as part of the battery with Mike Mussina. Instead, it will be Jorge Posada yet again. Could that mean Molina tomorrow? With Igawa? I'm not sure if Molina has some numbers in his favor tomorrow, facing left-hander Jorge De La Rosa. But still, strange decision. Either that, or Molina won't see action at all until the weekend series in Baltimore.