Kei Igawa got his shot last night to show that he has made some improvement since last season. I didn’t see any improvement.

His inability to pitch low is still the main concern and the Tigers took advantage of this weakness, taking 11 hits over 3 innings (though really only in the 1st and 3rd innings). Igawa, who struggled all last season for the Yankees, had been showing better stuff in Triple-A this spring. But as we all know, Triple-A is not the majors. The current plan, according to Girardi during the post-game interview, is to give Igawa another chance. Whether or not the Yankees follow through with this plan is, well, up to the Yankees. More than likely Ian Kennedy, another "star"of the minors, will wind up replacing him.

I personally do not think that the solution to New York’s pitching woes lies in their Triple-A teams. We need to be looking further and outside of the organization. If Boomer is serious about coming back then let’s get working on the paperwork. Igawa, and Kennedy for that matter, are nothing more than band-aids for the moment. Unless the team is in a position to lose a minimum of 2 of every 5 games for the rest of the season, some more permanent plans need to be formed.

And what the hell was the deal with Betemit? Third base is clearly not the best of his utility positions and Ensberg should have been at that bag. There is no doubt that much of last night’s loss rested on Wilson’s shoulders. I haven’t quite figured out what some of Girardi’s logic is when he creates these lineups.

So the Yankees offense did what they could to save the game but a pop out from Duncan sent the team to the clubhouse with a loss of 6-to-5.

Four errors in total for the evening. 14 hits that couldn’t allow us to take the lead. And Albaladejo is going to the DL with an elbow injury to be replaced by Chris Britton. Tonight is another game.

Confidence

I always wonder why some people don't consider certain wins to be more important than others. I was having a conversation with a buddy of mine who said "a win is a win and a loss is a loss". His point was that at the end of the season, it is the number of games won as compared to the number of games lost that determine whether a team advances to the post season. No one will likely remember in October, an outfield catch in April that allowed a team to win a game against an seemingly insignificant opponent. Ultimately, this may be true except for the overwhelming effect of confidence.

Most will agree that a victory over an arch rival or a win that breaks a runaway losing streak can boost a team's confidence. And so much of sports (and life, for that matter) is about confidence. Those who have it will always have an edge over those who do not. Yesterday afternoon's 6-to-3 Yankee win against Cleveland may make only a small difference in September but, for at least some Yankees, it may help to turn things around.

The players who really performed yesterday were the very players that needed to perform. Giambi and Cano especially but it was nice to see something from Betemit too. Sometimes a home run or a key hit is all that is needed to bring a player around. I heard a statistic during the broadcast yesterday indicating that only one other Yankee in the last 80 years had performed as poorly at the plate as Cano and Giambi have at this point in the season. That one other player, whose name I can't remember (I wonder why?), played in the '60s.

My point is this... Cano is not a .172 hitter and Giambi can do better than .163. In the same way that a team's average in September has a way of "correcting" itself, so does a player's batting average. If you believe this, and there is no reason why someone shouldn't, then there are some Yankee hitters that are going to have to make a turn around real soon. And this will happen... it is inevitable. All that is necessary is a turning point. Hopefully yesterday's game was just that. Confidence. It is a powerful thing.

Now, on the same topic, I wanted to address the Joba fist pump that seems to be resurfacing to the headlines. Nothing more than confidence. For the very best players, a sport can be such an emotional thing. The pressures, the anxiety, the unpredictability. One pitch can mean a win or a loss... it is as simple as that. Greg Cohen did an great job in his blog yesterday analyzing the incident. I agree completely with his post, so I won't bother re-hashing it but you can find it here. While you are at it, check out another take on the issue here.

So the Yankees face Detroit tonight to see if they can give some payback for last week's licking that they took when they faced the Tiger's in the Bronx. Wouldn't it be nice to build a little more confidence?

Out of this world

I personally do not like all the gimmicks that seem to surround baseball these days. I don't really think the ball clubs (especially the Yankees) gain any ticket sales from them and when I go to the games I would rather just go for the games. I don't even like it when stadiums do those light shows and fireworks every time there is a home run. Let the fans generate the hoop-la. After all, whats the big deal- it's only a home run... the Yankees had two last night- no need for fireworks. That being said, last night's first pitch from outer space started us out with a match up against the Red Sox that was out of this world.

The Bombers got off to a good start last night with back-to-back home runs by Bobby and Alex in the first inning. Wang was looking decent and it seemed like the Yankee bats had come to play. By the bottom of the 4th inning they added 4 more runs to the board and now led the Sox 7-3. I thought this would be a good time to take out the trash (literally) and go walk the dog. To my surprise when I came back to the tv, Wang had been yanked, Ohlendorf was on the mound, and Boston had added 3 runs to their score. I must have missed a Wang meltdown of some sort. By the middle of the 5th, the Yankees were down by 2.

They came back in the bottom of the fifth to re-capture their lead with 4 more runs and Hawkins was brought in. Now, I have alluded to this before but in the interest of full disclosure I will say that I do not like LaTroy Hawkins. I think he going to put the Yankees in some tough (negative) situations this year. I hope I am wrong about that prediction... I certainly was wrong last night. Hawkins pitched extremely well for two straight innings and wound up getting the win for the night. Traber came in for one pitch and the Bruney took us home but not before the Yankees added 4 more runs to the lead in the bottom of the 8th. Final Score: Yankees 15 - Boston 9. A helluva game!

I read this morning that Wilson Betemit is now suffering from corneal ulcers (whatever the hell those are) and Harlin Chamberlain is continuing to improve.