Article:Baseball Notebook: Hank Yanks Chain of Yankees Again

Hank Yanks Yankees Chain Again

With the season at the halfway mark and the Yankees a half game out of last place in the AL East it wasn't surprising Hank Steinbrenner gave the Yankees another wakeup call. He may wind up outdoing his dad when it comes to yanking the chain of the Yankees when they don't perform up to expectations. He is fast becoming the Jerry Jones of baseball. Next thing you know he will be in the dugout dressed in a Yankee uniform.

The Yankees haven't been more than two games over .500 all season. Chien-Ming Wang 6-1 has shown he is the ace of the starting rotation. Andy Pettitte 3-4 was 3-1 on April 20th. Mike Mussina 6-3 has pitched much better of late and was 1-3 on April 17th so he has showed marked improvement.

The pitching of the fourth and fifth starters has been atrocious. Phillip Hughes 0-4 has given up 22 runs in 22 innings while Ian Kennedy 0-2 has allowed 22 runs to cross the plate in 23 innings. Allowing the other team a run an inning is not exactly a formula for success. Kei Igawa 0-1 showed he is not the answer either when in his first start he gave up 6 runs and 11 hits in 3 innings and has an ERA of 18.00 with righthanders hitting .579 against him.

Darrell Rasner 2-0 has pitched well in his first two starts after being called up by the Yankees but those two wins were against the Tigers and Mariners who are presently in last place in their divisions so the jury is still out on Rasner.

On the offensive side Robinson Cano finally crossed the Mendoza line and is hitting .205 and after hitting .151 in April he is hitting .350 in May. Jason Giambi who is hitting .188 has not been above the Mendoza line all year but has hit 7 homers and drove in 20 runs. Morgan Ensberg is hitting .224 and has only one extra base hit in 67 at bats which was a homer with 4 RBI's.

The rest of the starting lineup is doing about as well as expected except for Alex Rodriguez who had only 4 homers and 11 RBI's before being placed on the disabled list.

The back end of the rotation is the main problem the Yankees are facing and Hank is not going to stand by silently while the Yankees falter even if it is the middle of May. Surely they have someone in minors who is better than Igawa to start games. The next few weeks will be interesting to watch to see how the Yankees perform after Hank's wakeup call.

Today they start Ian Kennedy against Scott Kazmir and on Friday they start Darrell Rasner against Johan Santana in interleague play. This game should tell just how good Rasner is. If he can lock horns with a pitcher like Santana and emerge with a win it will be a tremendous confidence booster for both him and the team.

This is not a good time to be Joe Girardi or Brian Cashman. The pressure is on from Hank and they better get with the program or Hank will deep six one or both of them.

Around the Bases

Tom Glavine finally won his first game in the 39th game of the season for the Braves. Glavine has pitched much better than his 1-1 record indicates. He has received no decisions in the following games: Pirates: 1 runs in 5 innings Final score Pirates 12 Braves 11....Rockies: 0 runs in 6 1/3 innings Final score Rockies 2 Braves 1....Nationals: 2 runs in 6 innings Final score Nationals 6 Braves 3....Pirates: 2 runs in 7 innings Final score: Pirates 3 Braves 2. That is four games he should have won.

In the Mariners 4-3 win in twelve innings over the Rangers both Ichiro Suzuki and Ian Kinsler went 0 for 6. Suzuki who had an average of .292 on Sunday has been 1 for 16 since then lowering his average to .271. He had a 1 for 6 game on Monday against the Rangers....Daniel Cabrera 4-1 continues to improve his control. On April 28th against the White Sox he walked 7 in 6 innings but in his last three starts combined he has issued only 3 walks in 23 innings. Jay Payton hit a grand slam and drove in 5 runs yesterday and had come into the game with only 6 RBI's in 74 times at bat.

C.C. Sabathia has only allowed one run in his last two starts which has lowered his ERA from 7.51 to 5.47....Who would have thought?.....that Justin Verlander would be 1-7 on the 15th of May with a 6.05 ERA....Carlos Quentin hit his 10th homer of the season and extended his lead over the five AL players who are next with 8....Lance Berkman and Chase Utley both hit their 14th homers yesterday as they remained tied for the NL lead in homers....Micah Owings 5-1 took the win for the Diamondbacks over the Rockies but went hitless as his average tumbled to .370.

It is time for the Rockies to start Ryan Spilborghs who is hitting .323 in center field since Willy Taveras is hitting only .232 and Spilborghs is a lifetime .300 hitter. He also leads Taveras in on base percentage with a .392 mark with Taveras at .304....Chipper Jones hit his 11th homer of the season and was 2 for 4 raising his batting average to .418....After giving up 7 runs in 1 1/3 innings against the Braves on May 4th Bronson Arroyo has allowed 1 run in 15 innings. He left the game with the Marlins with a 6-0 lead but the Marlins scored 6 times in the top of the ninth against the Reds relief corps and tied the game. The Reds did win 7-6 in ten innings but it didn't help Arroyo's won-lost record.

It doesn't matter who the Brewers trot out to the mound in a closer situation. Guillermo Mota blew a save this time taking the place of Eric Gagne. The names change but the results remain the same. A 4-3 Brewers win turned into a 6-4 Dodgers win. Manny Parra who pitched 6 2/3 innings allowing 1 earned run could only sit and watch Mota blow his win. On the Mendoza line front Mike Cameron and Bill Hall who had climbed over the line on Tuesday went back under yesterday. Parra drove in two of the four runs for the Brewers.

The Cardinals hit 2 doubles and 13 singles in their 15 hit attack defeating the Pirates 5-1....Michael Bourn who is hitting .187 is hurting the Astros offense. If they had someone getting on base from the leadoff spot there is no telling how many RBI's Miguel Tejada and Lance Berkman would have now. Bourn has an on base percentage of .260 which is 16th on the Astros with 4 pitchers having better OBP than Bourn. Jake Peavy had 8 strikeouts in 4 innngs but still lost to the Cubs while Ted Lilly struck out 11 enroute to an 8-5 win....The Cubs signed Jim Edmonds and Felix Pie back to the minors.