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.

Upsetting

I am starting to get a little tired of the crap that Phil Hughes is putting over the plate this year. The now 0-and-4 starter allowed 6 runs over 3 -2/3 innings. I don't want to hear about how young he is. I don't want to hear any excuses. This guy is in the number 3 spot. He NEEDS to do better and that's all there is to say. There is no room for a 7.85 ERA in the Yankees starting lineup. I would almost rather see Kei Igawa on the mound.

Seeing Chris Stewart behind the dish made me realize just how important Posada and Molina are to the team. Stewart had very little control over him domain last night and didn't help Hughes out in the least.

As nice as it was to see Cano hit one to the stands in the 2nd inning and Giambi had a nice hit in the 9th, but we didn't really get to see much else. Another bases-loaded opportunity gone bad (make that TWO bases-loaded opportunities gone bad); too many players left on base.

This game was against Detroit for Christsake! Final Score: Tigers 6 and Yankees 4.

No, I don't know why I am so aggressively depressing in this entry. Perhaps it had to do with the Yankees releasing All-Star Game info today. Tier Box tickets selling for $50 for a regular season game are selling for $770 per seat for the All-Star Game and other required events. Prices range from $300 for the bleachers to $1,600 for field level... and these are just the face value amounts. StubHub is already marketing tickets up to $25,000. This is so completely outrageous that it actually angers me. I didn't really ever think I would have a chance at securing any tickets to the game but now I have put it out of my mind entirely.

More reflections...

I was having an interesting discussion with my chiropractor yesterday about the Yankees pitching. I suppose it started over Hank Steinbrenner's comment that "you have to be an idiot" to keep Joba Chamberlain as a setup man. In the last two days since this story appeared in the NY Times, many people have weighed in on this comment including Brian Cashman who stated on the Michael Kay show yesterday afternoon that the Hank quote was taken out of context. It is the New York Times... of course it was taken out of context! No where in that article does it imply that Hank wanted the change to happen immediately. There is a plan in place to make Joba a starter and that will happen... eventually. For now, Joba is still on an inning restriction and a really stupid thing to do would be to rush Joba to injury by increasing his workload overnight. Cashman knows that, all the Steinbrenner's know that, Girardi knows that. Apparently, the NY Times can't figure this one out on there own. In today's paper they imply that Hank's "forceful opinion" caused much controversy in the Yankees organization but the end result appears in the headline: "Chamberlain Will Start, Later Than Sooner". No kidding... you don't say?

Anyway... as I was waiting for my chiropractor to begin the traction to correct my Forward Head Posture we compared the last few major pitching trades made by the Yankees and the Red Sox. A few years back, NY and Boston looked to the Arizona Diamondbacks for some help with their starting rotation. Boston acquired Curt Schilling in 2004; the Yankees waited until 2005 and got Randy Johnson. But also in 2005, the Yankees decided to turn to the Florida Marlins to acquire Carl Pavano. The Red Sox waited a year before going to Florida and wound up with Josh Beckett in 2006. Last year, Japan seemed like the place to be. Boston scored Daisuke Matsuzaka, while here in New York we got Kei Igawa. Rather interesting when you think about it, isn't it? Do you think the Yankees have been getting screwed? I sure do.