Day-night doubleheader tomorrow in Fenway

The Yankees and Red Sox will close out the regular season with a day-night doubleheader tomorrow, beginning at 1:35 p.m.. The night game is scheduled to begin at 7:35 p.m., weather permitting.

Mike Mussina, who is going for his 20th win, will pitch the day game. Sidney Ponson will then close out the Yankees season in Game 2.

Doubleheader Saturday

Just a reminder: if you had tickets to last night's game, they are to be used for TONIGHT's game at 7:05 and not for the first game this afternoon.

Game 1 will have Mike Mussina matched up against James Shields. Game 2 has the venerable Sidney Ponson facing Matt Garza.

For those who will have to attend tonight's game, I'm sorry.

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.

Yankees win another for Ponson

The Yankees are somehow 7-4 in Sidney Ponson's 11 starts as a Yankee. If only other starts got that kind of run support.

As you can tell by the 13-9 score, Ponson was terrible. He gave up seven runs (six earned) and nine hits in three innings. If Joe Girardi gives him another start, it would be clear that he's conceded the season.

Alex Rodriguez was the hitting star on the day, going 3-for-6 with four RBI and two runs scored. Bobby Abreu and Johnny Damon also had three hits, while Derek Jeter, Hideki Matsui and Ivan Rodriguez added two hits apiece.

Edwar Ramirez struggled again, walking three and giving up two earned runs. Phil Coke was one of the pitching positives on the day, as he struck out two in his first major-league inning.

The Yankees will travel to Tampa Bay for a three-game series that begins tomorrow night. Mike Mussina and Matt Garza will square off.

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?

Good night

Watching Sidney Ponson pitch meaningful games at the end of the season is making me scratch my head as well.

The Yankees are now seven games behind the Boston Red Sox in the wild-card race with 30 games remaining.

Uh oh.

The way the Yankees have performed in these two games makes it seem like they have given up. The offense has done nothing against mediocre pitching, and the pitching has given up 18 runs to a Manny Ramirez-less Red Sox lineup.

I can't wait until this roster is cleaned up.

(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

This is the problem with wasting Ponson's starts

Because then you get starts like this one tonight.

In a game where giving up one run pretty much guarantees a loss, Sidney Ponson gave up seven runs.

With 35 games remaining, it's getting late early.

I almost wish Giese got bombed

Dan Giese pitched a great six innings, leaving with a 2-1 lead. After the Yankees tacked on another run, it looked like smooth sailing.

Not so fast.

Jose Veras and Edwar Ramirez have turned into Kyle Farnsworth Pt. 2 in the seventh and eighth innings, snatching defeat from the hands of victory.

As I've said with Sidney Ponson in the past, starts like these from Giese will most likely be few and far between, so it's best to take advantage of the good starts if and when you get them. Apparently the Yankees didn't get the memo.

It's looking more and more like no playoffs for this squad.

Offense wastes Ponson's start

Sidney Ponson pitched an extremely lucky seven shutout innings tonight against the best team in baseball. But it was seven shutout innings nonetheless.

However, the Yankees made this performance meaningless, as they left six runners on base and were held to five hits.

Mariano Rivera has also become completely unreliable in tied games. Yes, his save percentage is perfect, but Rivera had to be perfect in this game as well.

What a disgraceful performance.

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.

Sir Sidney's luck runs out

It was only a matter of time before Sidney Ponson lost a game for the Yankees. In fact, judging by his atrociously high WHIP (1.72), it's amazing the Yankees went 4-0 in his four starts before tonight.

Against a potent Boston Red Sox offense, Ponson gave up 10 hits and seven earned runs in four innings. The Yankees should consider themselves lucky that they got four wins out of Ponson and move on.

For the record, Jarrod Washburn allowed one run over eight innings against the Toronto Blue Jays today. After giving up nine earned runs to the Tigers on May 25, Washburn is 3-3 with a 2.82 ERA in 11 starts.

Washburn pitching in Toronto

There has been much talk that a possible Jarrod Washburn to the Yankees trade is imminent. However, as scheduled, Washburn is pitching for the Mariners in Toronto against the Blue Jays as we speak.

Sidney Ponson will face Jon Lester in the final game of the series tonight.

Eight is great

The winning streak is now at eight games, as the Yankees bats did the talking this afternoon. After Joba Chamberlain out-pitched Josh Beckett last night, the Yankees scored 10 times and recorded 13 hits to defeat Boston for the second straight day.

Andy Pettitte gave up two runs in the first inning, but he settled down after that. He was given the lead in the fourth inning and didn't look back. He gave up three runs (one earned) over six innings, striking out seven and walking three.

Derek Jeter, Bobby Abreu, Alex Rodriguez and Melky Cabrera each had two hits, while Robinson Cano had three hits. This was his seventh multi-hit game in the eight games since the All-Star break. He hit his ninth home run and 22nd double of the season, driving three runs in in the process and taking his batting average up to .270.

Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte made their Yankee debuts this afternoon. Nady reached base twice (a walk and a hit by pitch) and Marte struck out David Ortiz, the only batter he would face, in a big spot in the seventh inning.

Jose Veras walked a batter and allowed a hit while only retiring one batter. However, Marte and Ramirez got out of the seventh inning without allowing a run. Ramirez went on to pitch a scoreless eighth and David Robertson pitched a perfect ninth to finish the game.

Sidney Ponson and Jon Lester will pitch the finale tomorrow night.

(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Sir Sid escapes again

Sir Sidney Ponson's line against the Minnesota Twins tonight:

5.2 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K

It amazes me how he continues to do this. In four starts as a Yankee this season, he has given up 28 hits and 11 walks in 22 2/3, yet the Yankees have won his first three starts and are in position to win again tonight.

It's not pretty - and the Yankees are scoring a ton of runs for him - so I'm still never too confident when he takes the hill. One day he'll run into a team of patient hitters who will take pitches and hit in the clutch. Until then, I'll obviously take all the wins we can get out of him.

(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Abreu walks off

Much-maligned Bobby Abreu hit a walk-off double that scored Derek Jeter in the 10th inning, as the Yankees won 2-1 and swept the Tampa Bay Rays in this brief two-game series.

As evidenced by the score, the Yankees offense struggled, only tallying seven hits. But they got a great start by Sir Sidney Ponson. He only allowed one run and five hits while striking out four and walking two in six innings. Starts like these from Ponson may be few and far between, so it's especially important that the Yankees take advantage.

Some negatives: Despite going 1-4, Melky Cabrera came up small in a big situation. With a runner on third with one out in the ninth, Cabrera struck out when all it took was a fly ball to win the game. The Yankees also left nine runners on base.

Jose Veras and Kyle Farnsworth pitched well once again, as each pitching one perfect inning. Mariano Rivera struck out four in two innings, as he picked up his fourth win of the season.

The Yankees will travel to Pittsburgh tomorrow to make up a rainout from June. They were winning 3-1 when the game was called, but since it was not an official game, the stats don't count.

Pettitte spins a gem

The only thing that was able to stop Andy Pettitte tonight was his pitch count.

Eight shutout innings against the frontrunning Tampa Bay Rays resulted in Pettitte throwing 114 pitches. Edwar Ramirez was able to pitch an easy ninth inning to secure the Yankees' third straight win by the score of 5-0.

Pettitte struggled against the Red Sox in his last start, giving up six runs in 4 2/3 innings, so it was obviously a positive to see him turn in a performance like this. He won his 10th game of the season, joining Mike Mussina in the double-digit victory club.

Bobby Abreu, who had been 0 for his last 15 went 2-for-4 with an RBI tonight. Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano, Jose Molina and Jorge Posada all added two hits apiece as well. Maybe the team is starting to come out of their collective funk.

They'll do it against tomorrow afternoon. Sidney Ponson will take the hill as the Yankees look to sweep this brief two-game series.

(Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

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.

Baseball is a strange game

After scoring seven runs in their last four games, the Yankees scored nine runs in one inning tonight.

They have gotten decent pitching over these last four games, and the one night they get awful starting pitching (Sidney Ponson gave up seven earned runs in five innings), the Yankees score 18 runs.

If only they could have spaced out some of those runs earlier this week.

Oh well, bring on the Red Sox.

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.