Game 28: Yankees vs. Rays

Regular Season Game 28

Yankees vs. Rays
New Yankee Stadium - The Bronx, NY
Game Time: 7:05 p.m.
TV/Radio: YES, WCBS 880

Here are the lineups:

YANKEES (13-14)
Derek Jeter SS
Johnny Damon LF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Hideki Matsui DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Melky Cabrera CF
Ramiro Pena 3B
Jose Molina C

Pitching: Andy Pettitte LHP (2-1, 3.82 ERA)

RAYS (13-16)

TBA

Pitching: Jeff Niemann RHP (2-3, 5.68 ERA)

Yanks vs. Niemann

	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
N. Swisher	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	1.000	1.000	1.000	2.000
Totals	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	1.000	1.000	1.000	2.000

Rays vs. Pettitte

	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
C. Pena	30	10	0	2	3	6	4	7	.333	.444	.767	1.211
C. Crawford	30	8	1	0	0	2	2	4	.267	.313	.300	.613
A. Iwamura	24	4	0	0	0	1	2	8	.167	.231	.167	.397
B.J. Upton	21	6	2	0	0	3	2	3	.286	.333	.381	.714
G. Kapler	17	5	1	0	0	1	1	2	.294	.333	.353	.686
P. Burrell	15	3	0	1	0	1	1	6	.200	.250	.333	.583
J. Bartlett	13	4	1	1	0	3	1	0	.308	.357	.538	.896
D. Navarro	12	4	0	0	1	2	1	2	.333	.385	.583	.968
W. Aybar	11	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.091	.167	.091	.258
E. Longoria	8	1	1	0	0	0	1	5	.125	.222	.250	.472
B. Zobrist	6	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.167	.167	.167	.333
E. Johnson	5	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.400	.400	.400	.800
M. Hernandez	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333	.333	.333	.667
S. Riggans	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.333	.333	.333	.667
J. Ruggiano	2	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	.500	.667	.500	1.167
Totals	200	52	6	4	4	19	17	40	.260	.323	.390	.713

News & Notes

- Former Yankees PR Director Marty Appel dropped me an email today about a new book that he's promoting, it's called "Bottom of the Ninth: Branch Rickey, Casey Stengel, and the Daring Scheme to Save Baseball from Itself" and it's written by Michael Shapiro. The book comes out on May 12th.

Here's some of what Appel had to say about the book:

"It's really the first history of the Continental League - the Branch Rickey brainchild that led not to a third major league (as he hoped), but to expansion in 1961 and beyond (as his investors, like Bill Shea hoped).

"There is a lot of Yankee stuff in this story, because Dan Topping (besides O'Malley) was the games most powerful owner, Stengel, getting fired after the 1960 World Series was a key spark in getting the Mets going, and Yankee dominance was considered such a problem for the other teams."

Definitely sounds like an interesting read for not only Yankees fans, but baseball fans in general.

- Andy Pettitte has had a lot of success against the Rays in his career, going 15-4, with a 3.63 ERA in 26 games (25 starts). He's made one start against them this year, and in 7.1 IP he allowed three runs on six hits, walked one and struck out four.

- Jeff Niemann has never made a start against the Yankees, and as we know that's usually not a good sign for the Yanks.

- Robinson Cano is 1 for his last 16, and has seen his batting average drop from .378 t0 .333.

- At this point last season the Yankees were 14-13 and just 2.5 games out of first place. Today they find themselves at 13-14 and 5.5 games out of first.

- I posted this below in its own post, but in case you missed it here it is again. It's an up on Alex Rodriguez and Chien-Ming Wang from the AP via ESPN:

Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez played what could be his final rehab game Thursday, going 0-for-2 with two walks and putting in three innings of defense.

Coming back from March 9 surgery on his right hip, Rodriguez said “not yet” when asked if a decision had been made about rejoining the Yankees for Friday night’s game at Baltimore. He said he would be involved in a conference call with team officials about his status later Thursday.

The three-time AL MVP did shake hands and thank support staff at the Yankees’ minor league complex for their work after taking extra grounders and batting practice following the intrasquad game.

...

Also, Yankees pitcher Chien-Ming Wang, on the disabled list due to weakness of the abductor muscles in his hips, allowed three hits over five scoreless innings in the extended spring training game. He struck out seven during a 72-pitch outing.

“He was fine,” Yankees vice president Billy Connors said. “Good sinker. He’s feeling good, too. He’s healthy. That’s the most important thing.”

Wang, who missed the final 3 1/2 months last season with a right foot injury, said he felt better and hopes to return to the Yankees after one or two more minor league outings.

- Speaking of injured Yankees, Tyler Kepner has a few quotes from Brian Bruney about his injured shoulder:

“I don’t feel it when I do anything besides throwing,” Bruney said.

“They finally sat me down and told me I can’t be John Wayne and I can’t try to tough it out,” Bruney said. “It’s a good thing we had that talk, because I don’t think I would have been completely honest. I want to get back and help the team, but I’m no good if I’m not healthy.”

“I know everybody has watched the same baseball I have, and nobody’s done the job that they want to do,” Bruney said. “It’s easy to put pressure on yourself to come back, but it’s just not smart.”

Bruney, who plans to play catch again on today, also told Kepner that the elbow bothered him in spring training, but he didn't say anything.

“I was rolling the dice doing it,” Bruney said. “The doctor said I could have blown my arm.”

- UPDATE 5:02 p.m.: According to Peter Abraham, the Yankees have made it official and A-Rod will return to the team tomorrow against the Orioles in Baltimore.

- UPDATE 9:33 p.m.: Jose Molina left tonight's game with a strained left quad. He will have an MRI later tonight. If you ask me, he's headed to the DL.

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