On Deck (Game 34): Yanks at Mariners

Darrell Rasner earned tonight's start against the Mariners with a brilliant performance on Sunday against...you guessed it, the Mariners. The plan was for Rasner to make an emergency start, then hit the road back to AAA to make room for Matt DeSalvo to start the next night. Rasner pitched a gem, as did DeSalvo, and now Kei Igawa is in Tampa pitching A-ball. The best laid plans, and all that.

Jarrod Washburn will face the Yanks again tonight, and they should be looking to rebound from a drubbing yesterday at the hands of the Rangers. Giambi is probably still out, which means Melky and his hot bat will probably be in the lineup.

In a nutshell: Yet again, the Yanks look to get back to .500. I guess this is what it felt like to be a Cardinals fan last year.

Keys to the game: When is the bull pen going to be well-rested enough to actually perform? Vizcaino has been horrible. Farnsworth, ditto (although his numbers of late aren’t pitiful, do you trust him when he comes in for the eighth?) the Yanks seem bound and determined to make sure there’s absolutely nothing left in Proctor’s tank when he finally serves his suspension for almost hitting Betancourt. Mo, well, he’s still Mo and I’m going to keep saying that until he isn’t, but he’s only gotten 5 save opportunities and we’re 11 days into May.

Mariner’s blog-of-the-day: U.S.S. Mariner