Yanks Lose 4th Straight

Final Score: Rays 4 - Yankees 1

It's spring training so wins and losses don't matter, what does matter is that Mike Mussina looked a lot better today than he did in his previous outing. In 2.2 innings of work, he gave up 1 run on 2 hits, while striking out 5 and walking 2. The lone run came on a 2nd inning homer off the bat of Jonny Gomes. (And yes, Michael Kay did mention, AGAIN, that Gomes had a heart attack when he was younger.) Mussina's fastball was consistently at 86 MPH, up from 82-84 in his last appearance, and was even hitting 88-89. He also had very good movement on his breaking pitches. ... Chris Britton pitched well and retired the four batters he faced. ... Kyle Farnsworth also looked good today throwing a very quick 1-2-3 inning. ... Jeff Karstens wasn't too sharp, he gave up a run on 3 hits in his 2 innings of work. He also walked a batter. ... Jonathan Albaladejo threw a scoreless 8th, he gave up no hits, but walked a batter. ... Ross Ohlendorf got knocked around a bit i the 9th giving up 2 (1 earned) runs on 3 hits, it could have been worse had the Yankees not thrown out a runner at the plate.

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Mussina	2.2	2	1	1	2	5	1	9.64
Britton	1.1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0.00
Farnsworth	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3.00
Karstens (L, 1-1)	2.0	3	1	1	1	1	0	1.80
Albaladejo	1.0	0	0	0	1	1	0	2.45
Ohlendorf	1.0	3	2	1	0	0	1	3.38

The Yankees offense consisted of a Jason Giambi RBI single that tied the game in the 6th, that was pretty much it. Melky, Damon, Abreu and A-Rod, had hit a piece.

	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, LF	3	0	1	0	0	1	1	.333
Lane, LF	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	.267
Jeter, SS	3	0	0	0	0	1	2	.214
Betemit, SS	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	.235
Abreu, RF	2	0	1	0	1	0	0	.533
1-Castro, B, PR-2B	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	.200
Rodriguez, A, DH	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	.444
a-Miranda, PH-DH	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Giambi, 1B	3	0	1	1	0	1	4	.333
2-Christian, PR-CF	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Cano, 2B	3	0	0	0	0	1	5	.500
Tabata, J, RF	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
Ransom, 3B	3	0	0	0	0	2	2	.167
Green, 3B	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Molina, C	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.083
Cervelli, C	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Anson, C	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Cabrera, CF	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	.417
Duncan, 1B	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	.467
Totals	32	1	5	1	2	11	18

I don't usually add info on the opposing teams in these summaries (I will during the regular season), but David Price is worth mentioning. The kid has nasty stuff. He hit the first batter he faced, and then struck out the side on a steady diet of 97 MPH fastballs that he could put wherever he wanted. He also throws a mid-80's breaking-ball. Oh, and he's left-handed. Don't be surprised to see this kid in the majors this year.


The Yankees travel to Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers tomorrow to take on the Minnesota Twins @ 1:05 p.m. Phil Hughes will get the start for New York, and Boof Bonser will go for the Twins.