Rasner Cruises

Six plus innings, two earned, zero walks. That's the type of outing we were expecting from Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes this year, instead, it's Darrell Rasner who's been picking up the Yankee rotation. Yet again, the Yanks made a solid effort from their starting pitcher stand up for a 5-2 win.

Jeter hit his first bomb of the year, Giambi and Cano both continued to look good at the plate, but the offense was not the story of this game. Even with Rasner's impressive outing, the thing we need to spend some time talking about is the back end of the Yankee bullpen. Farnsworth, Joba and Mo have effectively shortened the game to 6 innings at this point.

Today, Farnsworth struggled a little bit, but he still got the job done. In the past, you'd find yourself saying Farnsworth had dominant stuff, but still found a way to blow it. No more. Joba had his one hiccup earlier in the week, but he's back to blowing away hitters and making it look easy. Mo has been the best closer in the game through his first 14 appearances, he's yet to allow a run or a walk, and he's only allowed 6 hits. If Farnsworth continues like this, moving Joba to the rotation isn't going to be an issue. They'll have Farnsworth for the 8th, Ohlendorf or Edwar for the 7th and of course Mo at the end.

The Yanks will look to take this series from the Tigers tomorrow with Andy Pettitte facing Nate Robertson.

Vitals and updated Damon graphic after the jump.