Sunday, June 1, 2008
Zack's Take on Friday's Game
On Friday night, Mike Mussina won his league leading 8th game this season, and lowered his ERA to 4.26. After a rocky first inning in which he allowed 4 runs (only 2 earned), he settled down and only let 2 more runners reach base over his final 5 innings. He struck out 5 and walked one, continuing one of his best seasons keeping runners from receiving the free pass. So far this year, he is allowing only 1.5 BB per 9 innings and 3.3 K/BB. Both of these are in the top of their categories in the league, and are one of the main reasons why Mussina has pitched so well this year. After Mussina was taken out, the bullpen held the Twins to only one run, a Morneu HR, and that was also the only hit. Rivera came in the 9th, and walked one but struck out 2. Abreu, A-Rod, and Matsui, each went 3-4 and Abreu also scored 4 of the Yankees 6 runs. Ever since Alex has come back, the Yankees have looked strong on offense and last night, they played exceptionally well.
Notes: It was announced that Joba Chamberlain will make his first start of the season on tuesday. He will be the 4th "young gun" to take the mound for the Yankees this season. So far, only Ranser has panned out. Ironically, he was the player that nobody expected to be a starter.
