New York @ Detroit preview
Comerica Park
Last Meeting ( May 12, 2010 ) NY Yankees 0, Detroit 2
It would appear the New York Yankees made the right decision over which young phenom to put into their rotation.
The Yankees had to choose between Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain for the rotation in spring training. One would be a starter. The other would be in the bullpen.
New York's deep thinkers went with Hughes, leaving the much-hyped Chamberlain back in the bullpen as a setup man.
The decision generated a lot of controversy in New York, where Chamberlain had already been anointed as the next Nolan Ryan. Six weeks into the season, the decision to go with Hughes has turned out quite well.
The right-hander is undefeated in five starts and goes for his fifth win - and third in a row - tonight against Detroit and right-hander Jeremy Bonderman.
Before they match up, the teams will play at 1:05 p.m. game in a makeup of Tuesday night's rainout. Tuesday's scheduled starters - Javier Vazquez and Rick Porcello - will start the early portion of the day-night doubleheader.
The Yankees have dropped two in a row and will try to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season.
Two games in one day won't help either pitching staff. Both teams used emergency starters Monday night when Sergio Mitre started in place of Andy Pettitte, and Brad Thomas was a last-minute replacement for Dontrelle Willis. The Yankees used four pitchers while the Tigers used six.
Each team will be looking to starters to give them some length to save their bullpens.
Hughes has been the Yankees' best starter in a rotation that has seen everyone pitch well. He has pitched seven innings three times and has held opponents to a .157 batting average. Hughes has allowed 17 hits and struck out 31 in 32 innings.
In his last start, where Yankees pitchers are judged the harshest Hughes came up big. Pitching in Fenway Park, he held the Red Sox to two runs in seven innings in a 10-3 win.
Bonderman is coming off a terrible outing which, fortunately for him, will never appear in the record book. Staked to a 7-1 lead in the third Friday in Cleveland, he allowed six straight hits and five runs and couldn't finish the inning.
Instead of being charged with six runs, however, Bonderman got off the hook when a line of thunderstorms rolled into the area and stopped play with the Tigers still leading 7-6 as the top of the fifth was about to begin.
The game was finally called after a delay of over two hours, but it wasn't an official game because the Indians didn't bat in the fifth so none of the numbers counted.
Of course, had Bonderman been able to get through the third inning in a reasonably timely fashion, there's a good chance an official game could have been played before the storms hit and the Tigers would have had a win.
Bonderman has been inconsistent, which is to be expected from a pitcher who missed most of the last two seasons with shoulder problems. He hasn't faced the Yankees since 2008.