Rasner Keeps Birds Grounded

What do you call a pitcher who wins as convincingly as Darrell Rasner did on Wednesday night-especially when the victory comes on the heels of a Yankee losing streak? You'd call that pitcher a "Stopper." And while it might be too early to anoint Rasner with that title after such a short body of work, on Wednesday night against the O's he was exactly that.

Rasner pitched 7 shutout innings-no small feat considering that Yankee pitching has given up runs in bunches in recent days...

Oh, the offense showed up today too-big time!

The Yankees' 8 runs on Wednesday night matched their total of their last 3 games combined...

Alex Rodriguez led the offense with 3 hits-2 doubles and a home run. Actually, he should have had 2 home runs, but for the second time this week, the umpires blew a home run call-this one went against the Yankees but at least didn't impact the final outcome of the game...

Additional Notes:

Joba Chamberlain pitched the final 2 innings of the game without allowing a run...it was announced after the game by the skipper himself, that this was the beginning of the plan to stretch out Chamberlain into his eventual role as starter...

It remains to be seen how this move will affect the Yankees...True, they need starting pitching, and Joba looks like he has the potential to be a great one, but I'm not convinced that Joba's replacement in the back end of the bullpen will be adequate....

Who will set up Rivera now? Farnsworth? A move like that might tax Rivera...it might not be so easy to find that bridge to Rivera...

And how will Joba fare as a starter?

I won't be convinced that this is the right move at the right time until I see a quality replacement in the set up role and Joba succeeds as a starter...

Many questions...

Tomorrow night Kennedy will pitch-he needs to have a good start!

Let's Go Yanks!!!!!