Trouble Brewing, Yankees Lose 5-1

Mike Mussina cruised through his first two innings. His velocity was up from his last start and he seemed to be locating his fastball wherever he wanted. His curveball looked like it had a lot of bite to it as well. And then he was done for the night, and maybe for the rest of the month. Moose took himself out of the game with a hamstring problem, something that kept Cano out for 35 games last year. It's uncertain how long Moose will be out but you can be sure he won't be pitching his next two times in the rotation.

Despite Moose leaving early, the Yankee bullpen had only given up one run entering the 8th inning. Sean Henn came on in relief and pitched well, going 3 1/3 and giving up one run that Scott Proctor let score when he relieved Henn in the 6th. Through 7 1/2 the score was tied at 1, the Yankee run coming on an A-Rod sac fly in the 4th inning.

In came Kyle Farnsworth and then things got out of hand. The Twins put up a four spot in the 8th, ensuring themselves of a win with closer Joe Nathan finishing out the game in the 9th despite it not being a save situation. Farnsworth was flat out awful, surrendering four runs on four hits and a walk and registering just one out. It appears he still is trying to find himself, something he has been unable to do since wearing pinstripes.

It can't all be on Farnsworth though, as the Yankee offense scored merely one run on three hits off of Ramon Ortiz. Ramon Ortiz!!! This is another classic Yankee performance where their bats go dormant against a pitcher they should really pound. Three hits off this guy is inexcusable. His stuff is solid at best and he tends to let games get away from him rather easily, yet the Yankees barely threatened him at all and he had an easy go of it.

To single out someone on the offense - Giambi looks awful. He is popping up a lot of balls that should be line drives and he seems uncomfortable at the dish. The guys is our 5 hitter and supposed to be an high on-base guy, but is currently hitting .167. He needs to get himself right in this Oakland series coming up.

The Yankees will start their series with the A's on Thursday as Kei Igawa will have a chance to redeem himself for his dismal first start. After 8 games the Yankees are 4-4, with only 2 good performances (the first two games against Minnesota).

Moose seemed like he was going to provide a solid start tonight, but with the injury, has left even more rotation questions then there have been. The bullpen performed well aside from Farnsworth, but without Mussina and Wang, the Yankees will be scrambling for a fifth starter. Jeff Karstens could start in place of Mussina next time around if he is ready in time, as he has been throwing recently. Either way, the offense and bullpen will have to step it up more than they already have. A rotation that features the names Igawa, Pavano, Karstens and Rasner is pretty scary and Giambi and co. will need to pick up the slack before the Yankees see a bunch of losses pile up.

It's only his second start and only the 9th game of the season, but Friday is a big game for Igawa and the Yankees, as they need to recover from this loss and get off on the right foot in Oakland.