Rain interrupted the Yankees’ game against the Blue Jays twice this afternoon. First a rain delay ended Phil Hughes’ day after his first pitch of the second inning (Hughes threw a pair of 15-pitch “innings” indoors to get to 40 tosses on the day), then rain ended the game itself with the visiting Yanks leading 2-0 with two outs in the top of the sixth. The Blue Jays sent just 15 men to the plate. None of them reached base.
Lineup:
L – Johnny Damon (LF)
R – Derek Jeter (SS)
L – Bobby Abreu (DH)
R – Alex Rodriguez (3B)
L – Jason Giambi (1B)
S – Jorge Posada (C)
R – Shelley Duncan (RF)
S – Melky Cabrera (CF)
S – Bernie Castro (2B)
Pitchers: Phil Hughes, Scott Patterson, Kei Igawa, Billy Traber
Subs: Morgan Ensberg (1B), Alberto Gonzalez (SS), Cody Ransom (3B), Jose Molina (C), Colin Curtis (RF), Justin Christian (CF), Greg Porter (LF), Juan Miranda (DH)
Opposition: The Blue Jays’ starters minus Alex Rios.
Big Hits: Doubles by Shelley Duncan (2 for 2) and Morgan Ensberg (1 for 1).
Who Pitched Well: Everyone. Phil Hughes got through the first inning on nine pitches (six strikes), getting two outs on the ground. Billy Traber struck out the side (two lefties and righty Frank Thomas) in the fifth for the save. Scott Patterson struck out one in his lone inning. Kei Igawa went 3-0 on his first batter, but recovered and struck out two in his two perfect frames (more on Igawa here).
Ouchies: Updating my note on Hideki Matsui from yesterday, Godzilla did not take batting practice yesterday or today due to his stiff neck. The original goal was for Matsui to start participating in games this weekend, but that target is starting to slip. Robinson Cano missed the game to get a couple of fillings in his teeth.
More: Tyler Kepner has a brief note on the Andy Pettitte workout group, which now includes six Yankee hurlers. Kat O’Brien has some nice Joba anecdotes here. The other pitchers scheduled to pitch today (Jeff Marquez, Chase Wright, Alan Horne, and Mark Melancon) will get their work in during a brief intrasquad game tomorrow morning scheduled for 10:15. Assuming there’s no more rain, I’ll be liveblogging the actual game against the Twins at 1:00.
