Yankees ship Rasner to Japan

Konichiwa.

According to ESPN's Jerry Crasnick (the man who broke the Nick Swisher trade story), the Yankees have sold Darrell Rasner to a Japanese team for $1 million.

Rasner expects to sign a two-year deal with the Tohuku Rakuten Golden Eagles of the Pacific League.

Rasner appeared in 24 games for New York last season, starting 20. He went 5-10 with a 5.40 ERA in 113 1/3 innings.

September to forget

Hello again. It's been a few days, I know. I really just haven't had the motivation to write anything about the Yankees. It's the old "they don't care, I shouldn't care" scenario.

Ever since the last Boston series at home, I've barely watched any games. It's not that I'm a bad fan or anything. I just feel that I have better things to do than waste three or four hours out of my day to watch a lost cause. The last thing I want to see is Darrell Rasner, Sidney Ponson or Andy Pettitte stinking it up down the stretch. I don't want to watch Alex Rodriguez continue to prematurely age me. And I certainly don't want to watch Robinson Cano sleepwalk through his contract.

These last few weeks have certainly been different for me. Usually if I'm unable to watch the games, I compulsively send text messages to Google to find out the score. But now if I see the score of the game it's because I reverted back to my old ways for a few brief moments.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that the first game of the final homestand in Yankee Stadium history was rained out tonight. This season as a whole has been dreary, so this is just par for the course.

A-Rod's heating up

Alex Rodriguez, with his 3-for-4 and a home run performance, has three home runs and 11 RBI in his last five games. Figures he, along with the rest of the team, start heating up now. The Yankees have won five of their last seven games. Where was this when it mattered?

Carl Pavano couldn't get out of the fifth inning, but the Yankees' offense was able to carry them on this night. Edwar Ramirez was awarded the victory - his fifth of the season - and Phil Coke had another impressive outing (two perfect innings).

The Yankees, with Darrell Rasner on the mound, will look for the sweep tomorrow evening.

On a side note, Rodriguez's ninth-inning home run brought about instant replay for the first time in Major League Baseball history. The delay totaled a little over two minutes.

The season that was not meant to be: Part One

For a team with a payroll over $200 million, many things have to go wrong for it to fail. By the Yankees standards, the 2008 season has been a catastrophic one. With 30 games remaining and a seemingly insurmountable seven-game wild-card deficit ahead of us, it's about time to, for lack of a better phrase, put a bow on this season.

In this part of the miniseries entitled, "The Season That Was Not Meant to be," I will focus on how injuries to the starting pitching staff, ineffectiveness of its replacements and false hope have let the team down.

Whether or not you feel that Chien-Ming Wang is an ace, it's obvious that the first hit to the Yankees' playoff chances occurred when he injured his foot on the Minute Maid Park basepaths. Wang had a rough stretch at the end of May and beginning of June, going 0-1 with an 8.75 ERA in four starts. However, the Yankees only lost one of those starts and despite that run, Wang was 6-2. He turned it around after pitching 7 1/3 solid innings against Oakland and was pitching a five-inning shutout in Houston before reaching base on a fielder's choice. His season would soon be over after injuring his foot behind third base and home.

After winning that game 13-0, the Yankees were 37-33. They were six games behind the first-place Boston Red Sox. They are now 10.5 games behind the first-place Tampa Bay Rays and seven games behind the Boston Red Sox in the wild-card standings.

The next blow came on August 4 when Joba Chamberlain left in the middle of his start against the Texas Rangers with a right shoulder injury. Phil Hughes injured his hamstring in the middle of a no-hit bid in the same park one year earlier. The Yankees were 10 games above .500 after losing to Texas on that night, 5.5 games behind the frontrunning Rays. They have since lost five games in the standings.

The Yankees went into this season expecting big things about of so-called "Big 3." Hughes is 0-4 with a 9.00 ERA and hasn't pitched since April 29. Ian Kennedy is 0-4 with an 8.17 ERA and has made one start in the Majors since May 27. For those scoring at home, Carl Pavano has won more games than both Kennedy and Hughes combined.

Replacing Wang and Chamberlain has been a tough task. You know it'll be hard to win games when Darrell Rasner has started the third-most games for the Yankees this season. After starting his season off 3-1 with a 1.80 ERA, Rasner has since gone 2-8 with a 6.08 ERA. The Yankees are 5-10 in those starts.

Sidney Ponson was also picked up off the scrap heap. The Yankees are somehow 6-5 in his starts, despite having a 5.64 ERA in his time with the team. If only the other starters got that kind of run support we may not be having this conversation.

The point is that it's hard to be a consistent team when you only have one reliable starter. Mike Mussina is 16-7 this season while Andy Pettitte, who is getting paid $16 million to blow leads, has 10 losses and a 4.37 ERA.

There is still plenty of blame to go around, and I'll get to the offense next. But for now let's reflect on the starting pitching. What has been your biggest disappointment regarding the starters?

Sweep success

None of the games were pretty, but the Yankees beat up on a lowly opponent, sweeping the Baltimore Orioles in their own building. The game took over four hours and the Yankees had a 7-2 lead, but I'll take it.

The Yankees survived a shortened outing by Darrell Rasner. He threw 98 pitches while only recording 10 outs. David Robertson, Edwar Ramirez and Jose Veras all struggled out of the bullpen, but Robinson Cano hit the go-ahead solo home run in the seventh inning.

Cano finished the day going 4-for-5 with two RBI. Johnny Damon, Bobby Abreu, Alex Rodriguez and Xavier Nady also had multiple hits.

Despite allowing the game-tying home run in the fifth inning, Ramirez "earned" his fourth victory of the season. Mariano Rivera recorded four outs for his 31st save of the season.

Next up for New York is a three-game home series against the Boston Red Sox that begins on Tuesday. Hopefully the Yankees can carry the momentum gained from this sweep forward.

Add Darrell Rasner and Edwar Ramirez to the "garbage" list

Darrell Rasner and Edwar Ramirez can now be considered 2008 Yankees trash.

The fact that Rasner is pitching meaningful games for a $200+ million team is a flat-out embarrassment. While no one could have predicted the problems of Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy this season, the Yankees do not have viable replacements.

Signing a top-flight starting pitcher like CC Sabathia for next season should be the No. 1 priority for whomever is in charge.

Regarding Ramirez: it's hard to fool batters with a mediocre fastball.

Giese to start on Friday

Dan Giese will take Darrell Rasner's turn in the rotation on Friday, according to Ed Price. Rasner will move to the bullpen as a result.

Rasner is 2-8 with a 6.22 ERA in his last 12 starts, so a change was necessary. I wanted it to be Ian Kennedy, but Giese has been great save for one appearance (ironically enough, his only other start this season).

Hopefully his second start will be better than his first.

Melky takes a seat

Just had a chance to look at the lineup for the first time tonight, and there was a glaring omission. Melky Cabrera is absent from his usual center field spot, with one of the heroes from yesterday, Justin Christian, getting the starting nod in his place.

Frankly, it's about time. Cabrera's OBP went under .300 after yesterday's game for the first time this season and his OPS is a staggeringly terrible .638. Let's put it this way: Darrell Rasner has a higher OPS than Cabrera does.

What happened to the Cabrera who hit five home runs and drove in 12 runs in April? He looked like he was headed for his best offensive season yet. Instead, he's headed for his worst.

He will turn 24 in a week, but he has been around for three full seasons already. When will the "he's young" excuse not be enough anymore?

It's a shame Brett Gardner couldn't hit when he was up here. He'd fit like a glove.

Kennedy has earned a trip back to the bigs

Joe Girardi made it clear that a roster spot was not reserved for Ian Kennedy when he was finished rehabbing his injury - he would have to earn his way back to the big club.

Kennedy has since made seven appearances for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, including one this afternoon. He went seven innings, allowing six hits and two earned runs while striking out six and throwing almost 70 percent of his pitches for strikes.

In those seven games for Scranton, Kennedy has pitched 38 innings and has allowed 11 earned runs (2.61 ERA). He has also walked 13 and struck out 30 over that time. However, he has walked five over his last 27 innings pitched.

His performance, as well as Darrell Rasner's ineffectiveness, should give the Yankees cause to make a change.

Since going 3-0 in his first three starts, Rasner is 2-8 in 12 starts (63 2/3 innings). That equates to a 6.22 ERA. The Yankees are 4-8 during these 12 starts as well.

Who knows if Kennedy will be any better, but it's time to give him a shot. We know what to expect from Rasner, but Kennedy was once a top prospect so he has some potential.

The two pitchers are on the same schedule, so the transition would be seamless. Since Dan Giese has seemed to embrace the long-relief role, Rasner could be optioned to Triple-A and return to the team when the rosters expand on Sept. 1.


What do you guys think? Has Kennedy officially earned his way back?

Angels give game away

Despite Edwar Ramirez almost ruining a five-run comeback by himself Sunday afternoon, the Angels committed four errors en route to a 14-9 defeat.

The Yankees were trailing 5-0, but were able to score four runs against John Lackey in the fifth and sixth innings. After he exited, the Yankees scored four more to take an 8-5 going to the top of the eighth inning.

After getting two quick outs, Ramirez gave up a single sandwiched around two walks. He then gave up a grand slam to Mark Teixeira to give the Angels a 9-8 lead.

Things looked grim. However, Ivan Rodriguez led off the eighth with a single. Eventually, the Yankees would score six runs to give them their total of 14. However, the inning could've ended tied 9-9 if Chone Figgins was able to handle a sure double play ball off the bat of Alex Rodriguez.

Bobby Abreu continued his hot hitting, going 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored, and Xavier Nady went 4-for-5 with a home run and six RBI.

Robinson Cano, nursing a sore left hand, came in for defense and went 1-for-1 with two RBI and a run scored.

Yankees pitchers weren't great, as you can tell by the score. Darrell Rasner only lasted four innings, and the Yankees walked seven Angels overall. Dan Giese was able to keep the score 5-0, as he pitched three scoreless innings, allowing only one hit.

The Yankees were able to split the four-game series despite losing the first two games. They will travel to Texas for four more starting tomorrow night.

Mussina helps Yankees bounce back

The Yankees had lost five of their last six before Mike Mussina shut down the Los Angeles Angels this afternoon on the last Old-Timers' Day in the current Stadium.

It didn't look good after 1 1/2 innings today, as Mussina fell behind 2-0 and had a relatively high pitch count. Everything seemed to change when Wilson Betemit hit a game-tying two-run home run off of Jered Weaver in the bottom of the second.

They would score two more in the third, including a Bobby Abreu solo home run, and that would be more than enough for Mussina.

He gave up two hits (both in the second inning) over seven innings while striking out five and walking two. He also retired the last 16 batters he faced. He is now 14-7 and has a 3.44 ERA after 23 starts this season.

In addition to Abreu's home run, Alex Rodriguez and Jose Molina (his first of the season) added solo home runs as well. Starting for the first time since the Yankees acquired Ivan Rodriguez, Molina went 3-for-3.

Darrell Rasner takes the hill for New York tomorrow afternoon as the Yankees look to split the four-game series against Los Angeles. John Lackey will oppose him.

(AP Photo/Ed Betz)

Bad time for Pettitte to implode

Looking strictly at the matchups for this series, this is a game the Yankees had to have. Sidney Ponson and Darrell Rasner will each start a game against the best team in baseball, so it was crucial for Andy Pettitte to pitch a solid game because of Brian Cashman's failure to acquire a starter.

What does he do? He gives up nine earned runs and 11 hits in a little over five innings.

The Yankees will be lucky to win one game in this series.

Pitchers in the minors

Ian Kennedy, Phil Hughes and Carl Pavano all pitched in the minors tonight. Kennedy pitched for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Hughes and Pavano both pitched for Class A Charleston. Here are their lines:

Kennedy: 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
Pavano: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
Hughes: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

I'll spare you the Pavano jokes because frankly, they're not that funny and the situation is actually kind of depressing.

Kennedy is rather close to rejoining the team. In six appearances for Triple-A in July, Kennedy has a 2.32 ERA. His walk total (12 in 31 innings) is a bit of a concern, but he could still be a better option than Darrell Rasner or Sidney Ponson are.

Happy birthday to me

Today is my 20th birthday. How will I spend my day, you ask? I'll be chasing around six and seven year olds all day at camp.

Anyway, the Yankees are 12-5 on July 22 since 1988. Even with Darrell Rasner on the mound this evening, we have history on our side.

The hitting returns

After getting two-hit by Roy Halladay last night, the Yankees scored nine runs and pounded out 11 hits to beat Jesse Litsch and the Toronto Blue Jays.

Derek Jeter led off with his 200th career home run. However, the Blue Jays would score four runs in the bottom of the first against Darrell Rasner who has been struggling after his May success.

The Yankees would then score eight runs in the next three innings to give them a comfortable 9-4 victory. Included in that outburst was Alex Rodriguez's 537th career home run, passing Mickey Mantle.

Rasner won his first start since June 18, going five innings and allowing four earned runs. He struck out six and walked one, throwing 108 pitches. The bullpen threw four scoreless innings and allowed only one baserunner (a walk by Kyle Farnsworth).

Brett Gardner went 2-2 with three RBI, two runs scored and two walks. He has struggled since being called up, so hopefully this can get him going. Melky Cabrera, Rodriguez and Jeter also had two hits apiece.

Jason Giambi's struggles have seemingly gone unnoticed in the wake of his All-Star bid. He has one hit in his last 22 at-bats with no home runs and two RBI.

Andy Pettitte and A.J. Burnett will square off in tomorrow afternoon's rubber game.

After the game, many Yankees players reflected on Bobby Murcer's passing. Manager Joe Girardi cried during his postgame comments and many others very visibly shaken.

(AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Aaron Harris)

Don't expect any major moves

Ed Price brings us quotes from Brian Cashman regarding the Yankees' intentions at the trade deadline.

"I don't try to react to anything," he said, "other than if something's right, we're going to be aggressive on it. If it's not right, we won't. In the meantime, we have talent here that's better than the way it's performing.

"So it's up to myself, my staff and my players to figure it out together and certainly not count on something from the outside to get us going. Because most of the answers are right here in front of us."

On the other hand, it seems unlikely the Yankees will be sellers at the deadline. Johnny Damon, after Thursday's loss and lengthy team meeting, intimated that players feared that possibility. "We're trying to find a way to get this team where it needs to be, which is a postseason berth," Cashman said. "That's the mindset."

Quotes like these are troubling. If Darrell Rasner and Sidney Ponson are the answers, then the Yankees should be sellers at the deadline.

However, anything can happen between now and July 31. Also, these quotes were uttered before another awful Rasner outing.

The eternal optimist in me hopes that this is just a smokescreen. If the Yankees are serious about participating in a three-team race in the AL East, then something rather large needs to be done.

(Some) hitting and no pitching

The Yankees were somehow able to score three runs against Josh Beckett in the first inning.

It's a shame that Darrell Rasner hasn't been able to make it stand up. Through three innings, he has walked two and has given up five hits and three earned runs.

When the Yankees finally are able to score runs, they can't make them stand up. I wouldn't be shocked if Mike Mussina pitched a great game tomorrow while the Yankees' offense gets shut down.

Meanwhile, Johnny Damon left the game due to injury, and the Yankees are making Beckett's job a whole lot easier.

Oh well

If you told me that the Yankees would take two of three at Shea Stadium with Sidney Ponson, Andy Pettitte and Darrell Rasner starting all three games, I would've signed up for that in a heartbeat. And that's exactly what happened.

Rasner wasn't awful, but the Yankees' righty-heavy lineup was dismal against Oliver Perez, who always seems to pitch well against the Yankees.

Bobby Abreu actually hits better against lefties than he does against righties (.316 vs. .272), so I would have started him instead of Justin Christian.

It was strange booing "Enter Sandman" when Billy Wagner came in. It was like bizarro world.

It didn't rain that much at the game, but it absolutely poured during the walk back to the car (through the Worlds Fair park and over the L.I.E.). Long story short, I was drenched.

This was my first Subway Series game, and it happened to be the last one at Shea. All in all, it was a fun game. Too bad the Yankees ended up on the wrong side.

Next is a three-game series at home against Texas.

Live from Shea

I've seen just about enough of Darrell Rasner. Three balls on every hitter is getting old fast. Hopefully the Yankees brass has seen enough as well.

Wilson Betemit batting fifth? Really? The bench is almost as bad as the bullpen is.

Hopefully it starts raining. I'm that high in the upper deck that I'm covered.

Pettitte outduels Santana

Andy Pettitte turned in his fourth straight excellent start, battling the weather and Johan Santana en route to the Yankees' 3-2 victory over the Mets.

Pettitte gave up two runs (two home runs), five hits and three walks over six innings, but the offense made that stand up against Santana. The Mets right-hander struck out eight, walked four and gave up three earned runs over six innings. Last night, both teams scored 15 runs. Today, they only combined for 11 hits and five runs.

Pettitte came back after a rain delay in the middle of the sixth inning and allowed a leadoff home run to David Wright, before closing out the inning. He was then done after 88 pitches.

In his last four starts, he is 4-0 with a 1.00 ERA in 27 innings. This was after allowing 10 earned runs to Kansas City on June 7.

After Pettitte left, Jose Veras, Kyle Farnsworth and Mariano Rivera pitched a scoreless inning each. Veras was the only one to allow a hit (one) and none of them walked a batter. Rivera recorded his 22nd save of the season in the process.

Farnsworth is never a given - and he gave up a hard-hit line drive to left that was snared by Johnny Damon - but he pitched pretty well today. His pitch to strike out Carlos Beltran to end the eighth inning was quite possibly the best pitch he's thrown all season.

Robinson Cano went 2-for-4 with an RBI to raise his average to .244. Derek Jeter's 15-game hitting streak was snapped with his 0-4 afternoon. However, he scored one of the Yankees' three runs with a walk in the fourth inning.

Darrell Rasner takes the hill tomorrow afternoon as the Yankees look to sweep the Mets in their stadium. Oliver Perez will counter.

(AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)