What's the deal with a 4:10 p.m. ET start, anyway? Ian Kennedy's return to the big leagues has so far looked a lot like his first six outings of the season, having allowed a leadoff homer to Aki Iwamura and a two-run shot to Shawn Riggins in the fourth. Meanwhile, the $28.5 million man, Scott Kazmir, has been rather dominant against New York, no-hitting the Yankees until Melky Cabrera broke it up with a single in the fourth.

Taking this game out of the equation for a moment, this road trip can hardly be considered a success. Mike Mussina pitched great on Wednesday but the Yankees didn't play particularly well in Detroit, Kei Igawa flopped and Hank Steinbrenner disrupted things by giving the Rays a public pat on the back. Right now, they look a whole lot like a mediocre team just trying to tread water.

The Subway Series lies ahead, but the Yankees shouldn't need those types of games to light a fire under themselves. Here's Johnny Damon: "You definitely want to have bragging rights in your city. Every game we play we've got to go out and play like it's the Mets series or a Red Sox series. Shame on us if we can't get up. We need to come ready to play against any team, rivalry or no rivalry."

We almost just saw the ultimate tough luck  exhibition here in the press box, as Carlos Pena fouled a ball back and nearly took out the laptop of a Tampa area writer. That wouldn't be remarkable by itself except that same writer had a screen shattered by a first inning foul ball earlier in this series. Adding insult to injury, someone in the stands yelled "Pay attention!"

Here's a fun Q&A with Joba Chamberlain.

The Yankees have had their first regular season, closed-door meeting of the Joe Girardi era, getting underway at about 4:55 p.m. ET on Wednesday and continuing until the team hit the field for BP at 5:30.

Girardi said that the meeting had nothing to do with Hank Steinbrenner's comments and that he wanted to speak to the team "from my own heart." Though Girardi didn't divulge many details, the easiest message to point to is this one -- "I expect us to be a lot better and we'll find a way."

There's a little bit of a lineup shakeup to get things going, with Bobby Abreu hitting second and Derek Jeter dropping to third. That breaks up the lefties a little bit more. Jeter, by the way, wasn't surprised by Steinbrenner's commentary. To him, it sounded a whole lot like the old Boss.

"We need to win more," Jeter said. "That's a good way to put it."

I thought Hank Steinbrenner had been a little too quiet lately, didn't you? The Yankees co-chairman had a few comments after last night's 2-1 loss in 11 innings, and it seems that Hank has been mighty impressed with the Tampa Bay Rays.

Who isn't? They're the first place Tampa Bay Rays, after all, and they seem to be playing with a passion and energy that the Yankees aren't right now. Of course, the Rays aren't drawing many to Tropicana Field, but those who are coming out are getting a good show.

The Yankees didn't lose last night because of pitching, not in the least. Chien-Ming Wang kept them in the game for seven innings and Mariano Rivera was bound to give up a run sometime. But where is the offense? At this point, you wonder if they should consider activating Jorge Posada and solely using him as a DH. They won't, in all likelihood, because his best value to the Yankees is as a catcher and they don't want to reaggravate that shoulder. But they need a bat from somewhere, and A-Rod can't be activated soon enough.

Interesting stat in today's USA Today, which I always try to give a read-through over lunch on the road. The idea, presented by Ron Shandler, is that Robinson Cano's 'contact rate' of 89.4 (at-bats minus strikeouts divided by at-bats) is so high that there's no way he can continue to be a .183 hitter. That high contact rate - or so it would seem - suggests that Cano has fallen into an inordinate amount of hard luck through the first few weeks of the season.

Joe Girardi has been a busy guy during the first couple of days here. As I write this, he's squatting out in the bullpen catching Andrew Brackman, who is coming back from Tommy John surgery and -- from what I can see -- has a ways to go. Humberto Sanchez is next, limbering up near the left field foul line. Girardi still has some of the moves back there, even if the reflexes might not be trigger sharp.

Yesterday afternoon, Girardi wandered out to the Ray tank they keep out in right-center field. There's an assortment of real live creatures out there, and the fans can feed them. You can even stick your hand in the tank, I suppose, but Girardi didn't need that to make the experience any more enjoyable.

"I didn't see too many rays growing up in Peoria," he said.

Alex Rodriguez worked out again today over at the Himes Ave. complex. He's targeting next Tuesday vs. Baltimore for his return. ... Johan Santana vs. the Yankees, eh? I smell Hank Steinbrenner commentary. ... Heard about Dan McCutchen yet? If not, the Newark Star-Ledger will help you brush up. ...

If you haven't already heard, Kei Igawa will be skipped on Thursday. The Yankees have not immediately announced a replacement but it appears to be Ian Kennedy. Darrell Rasner, Andy Pettitte and Chien-Ming Wang will be the probable pitchers for the Subway Series.

Alex Rodriguez will not play in rehab games this week and will not appear vs. the Mets. The Yankees said that his right quadriceps is improving but it's not where they need it to be yet.

Diehard Yankees fans shouldn't need this primer, but if you were a Tampa Bay area resident and opened up your newspaper this morning, here's what you'd find -- a nice little trip down memory lane of the Yankees' all-time greatest moments and players. It makes for a fun read.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometime it rains. The Yankees and Tigers had plenty of the latter on Sunday, and after the game was postponed just after 1 p.m., the Yankees certainly didn't seem too broken up about it.

Mike Mussina's prediction that the Yankees weren't going to wait around for four hours and one minute to start the game -- which they did in Detroit last year -- held true, and the team seemed to be in a giddy mood as they packed up. Joe Girardi dropped off the lineup card at Derek Jeter's locker, commemorating the fact that he would have batted fourth if a game had been played. Jeter playfully sent it right back to the manager's office with a note scribbled across the face, but when we asked what he wrote, Jeter slyly said, "Oh, I can't tell you that."

Maybe it was the fact the Yankees were to get in around 7 p.m. in Tampa Sunday night, giving them a chance to kick back and get some much-needed rest. It's certainly better than their last trip to Tampa, an abbreviated two-game series that provided enough time to ... well, play two baseball games, and that's it. Even though you know the games are indoors -- rainy and 50s in Detroit or sunny and 80s in Florida? No competition.

Tonight the Yanks throw Andy Pettitte (3-3, 3.77) against Matt Garza (1-1, 4.91) under the lights at the Trop. Chien-Ming Wang and Mike Mussina follow for the next two games, but after that, you've got a dilemma for Thursday. Kei Igawa? Darrell Rasner? Someone else? Personally, I'd push Rasner back to pitch Friday against the Mets. I don't see how you can put Igawa in that kind of situation right now.

Then again, Igawa has surprised us all before. Remember his six innings of scoreless relief vs. Boston in the Jeff Karstens game? That still remains his best big league outing to date, in my opinion.

This is a gorgeous afternoon in Detroit, and there's pretty close to a full house on hand here at Comerica Park. Day games seem to be good news for the Yankee bats -- the Yankees have three of the American League's top five hitters in day games, with Hideki Matsui (.429, 12-for-28), Derek Jeter (.405, 15-for-37) and Johnny Damon (.390, 16-for-41).

Interesting town, this Detroit. The Yankees don't stay downtown, preferring to bus in from about 40 minutes away, but a lot of the writers do. Outside my hotel this morning I watched them setting up for a country music hoe-down. Someone I was talking to was checking into the hotel and was told, "Oh, you must be here for the hoe-down." Country music isn't necessarily my cup of tea but I'd check it out if we had the time.

The Hockeytown bar across the street from Comerica Park, to contrast, was blaring loud hip hop into the streets after midnight last night. We could make out lyrics from blocks away. Then we got into the worst smelling taxi cab I've ever experienced in my life. Apparently - and this is no joke - the driver was carrying around his dirty laundry in the trunk. If I had to guess, his day job is manure hauling.

With the strange scheduling here -- I know this is a day game, but it'll be night when we're all wrapped up -- it seems I'll be lucky just to squeeze in a few hands at the poker tables in town. As I've been telling everyone, Detroit is kind of like playing a three-game series in Atlantic City. Someday I'll have to swap travel stories with Chris Britton. He's probably become quite the familiar face with all his trips between New York and Scranton.

Check these stats of the day -- Jeter's first-inning home run was his first in 128 at-bats, the longest such streak to begin a season in his career ... Yankees relievers have not allowed a run in 11 IP over the last three games ... Yankees pitchers have allowed one walk in the last two games.

This stadium, Comerica Park, played host to one of the least pleasant memories of the '07 season -- an Aug. 24 game that was delayed by rain for four hours and one minute, with first pitch thrown at 11:06 p.m. ET.

The game ended on a walkoff homer at 3:30 a.m. ET the next morning. The losing pitcher? Wouldn't you know it, it was the lefty taken on Friday by the Padres, Sean Henn.

No rain here tonight, thankfully, but speaking of lefties who once drew interest from San Diego, how would the Yankees like to have a mulligan on Kei Igawa? While I don't think Igawa pitched as poorly as his line -- 3.0 IP+, 11 H, 6 ER -- indicates, it's pretty apparent that the Tigers were salivating to get their rips in against him.

Wilson Betemit's shoddy defensive play at third base really killed Igawa in the three-run third inning; by my count, there were four balls - two backhanded, one forehanded and one barehanded - that Betemit could have made a play on but didn't. Igawa is probably going to get at least one more turn through the rotation to prove that this was a fluke, but unless he starts pounding down in the zone more consistently, the jury has to be out.

Any silver lining? Well, Alex Rodriguez took about three dozen grounders on a back field in Tampa, Fla. this afternoon. The Yankees need him more than ever, on both sides of the ball.

Here are the pitching matchups for this weekend's series at Comerica Park (and no, David Wells won't be available for these three games...):

Tonight: Kei Igawa, LHP (0-0, -.--) @ Kenny Rogers, LHP (2-3, 6.27)

Scouting Report:
Yankees: After an up-and-down spring, this will be Igawa's first big league start of '08. The Japanese import had a shaky first season in the Majors and started this season 3-3 with a 3.86 ERA in seven starts at Triple-A. Igawa did not face the Tigers in the 14 big league appearances (12 starts) he made last year, and was 0-2 with a 5.76 ERA in five starts away from Yankee Stadium.

Tigers: Rogers retired the first 11 Twins he faced in order Sunday at the Metrodome before Minnesota began chipping away at what had been a six-run lead. He arguably should have finished his afternoon with seven innings and three runs allowed, but a two-out error in the seventh extended the inning for the Twins' go-ahead rally. Rogers allowed two runs on six hits in six innings to the Yankees last week in the Bronx.

Saturday: Darrell Rasner, RHP (1-0, 3.00) @ Jeremy Bonderman, RHP (2-3, 4.17)

Scouting Report:
Yankees: Rasner made his first 2008 start in the Majors against Seattle on Sunday. He gave up two runs on two hits in the first inning, and then settled in to pitch five scoreless innings, during which he gave up only three hits. With youngsters Phil Hughes, who is injured, and Ian Kennedy, who is working out his pitching problems in Triple-A, not around, Rasner has a great chance to stick with the team and said he intends to take advantage of it. He didn't walk a batter on Sunday and yielded only six in 31 innings at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Tigers: The good news for Bonderman was that his slider was more consistent as an out pitch in his last start against Boston. The bad news was he yielded a pair of two-run homers that sank his fortunes in defeat. He needed 113 pitches to last six innings, but he was much more efficient in his previous start against the Yankees. If he can keep that up in the rematch, he could continue his pattern of alternating wins and losses so far this season.

Sunday: Andy Pettitte, LHP (3-3, 3.77) @ Nate Robertson, LHP (1-4, 6.64)

Scouting Report:
Yankees: Pettitte started and recorded a no-decision in his 400th career start on Tuesday, despite limiting the Indians to two earned runs in 6 1/3 innings and striking out a season-high six batters. His only blemish was a two-run homer to Jhonny Peralta on a sinker that did not cut quite enough, a problem Pettitte continues to fight in his bullpen sessions. He lost to the Tigers on April 30 in New York, allowing five earned runs in six innings for his third loss.

Tigers: Robertson doesn't have a quality start in seven outings so far this year, and he has been inefficient with his pitches in his last two outings. Still, if he can repeat the last five innings of his victory over the Yankees from May 1, he'd be pretty happy, considering he gave up a three-run home run to Bobby Abreu three batters into his outing that night.

The Yankees had absolutely no answers for Cliff Lee on Wednesday, which hardly sets them apart from the rest of the American League. Lee's resurgence has been one of the most remarkable stories of the young season, but the Yankees were in no position to appreciate it, getting pitches to hit but pounding them into the infield grass.

Apparently, Cliff Lee makes use of the New York City subway system.

Johnny Damon was one who wants to be held personally responsible, and after going 0-for-9 so far in the Cleveland series leading into Thursday's series finale, it's valid -- but it's not like Damon is the only cylinder not firing in the Yankee engine. When's Alex Rodriguez coming back again? (They say Thursday at the earliest, but my money is on Friday vs. the Mets).

Mike Mussina tries for his fourth straight victory this afternoon under overcast skies at Yankee Stadium with a nice crowd -- and lots of kids -- on hand.

Meanwhile, here's a great quote about Mariano Rivera in today's New York Times, courtesy of Cleveland's David Dellucci: "Facing him is like playing a video game. His ball is an optical illusion. It's fun because it's so nasty. You want to go up there and see that pitch because of how nasty he is."

See Alex run, see Alex throw, see Alex catch and ... most important of all ... see Alex hit.

The Yankees had plenty to keep an eye on before Wednesday's game, watching Alex Rodriguez take his first steps back on the field since hitting the DL on April 30. By all accounts, it went quite well. A-Rod ran at about 75 percent, he estimated, and said he can't wait to start his rehab assignment in Tampa on Monday.

That lines A-Rod up to rejoin the Yankees on Wednesday against Tampa Bay, one week from today, the earliest he could possibly be activated. They'll take it. No, he didn't faint.

A few assorted notes...

Joe Girardi said he spoke to Joba Chamberlain briefly after last night's game and has no concerns that the free-spirited reliever will be able to bounce back -- "Joba's been through some tough times in his life, and he's had to get back up, and not always on the baseball field," Girardi said.

Judging by the pretty solid slap Joba threw at my left shoulder an hour before game time, he's in a much better mood this evening.

Wondering about Jorge Posada? He'll be cleared to take batting practice on Friday. Phil Hughes will tag along to Tampa while the Yankees go to Detroit, though he can't do a whole lot physically right now.

The Yankees have an interactive feature up until 5:30 p.m. during batting practice where you can send a text message to the video screens down the left and right field lines. Most are simple like "Hi Jenny" or "Go Yankees," but in the past, I've seen some pretty good ones up there -- most revolve around Carl Pavano.

Anyway, I finally cranked one up there this afternoon to salute Morgan Ensberg's devoted fandom of the Will Ferrell movie 'Anchorman,' posting "Morgan Ensberg is kind of a big deal." Actually, I just wanted to see if it would work. If you can think of anything funnier for the next few home games, fire away.
 

We saw something that hadn't been seen before last night -- Joba Chamberlain, giving up regular season runs at Yankee Stadium. It turns out he's not invincible after all, and this hurt the Yankees in a big way, with David Dellucci's three-run homer sailing a few rows into the right-field seats to crush New York in a 5-3, come-from-behind, Indians win.

After the game, "bounce back" seemed to be the big buzz words. Joe Girardi said it. So did Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera. The Yankees like a lot about Chamberlain's maturity level and it spoke volumes that he made a bee-line right to his locker to answer every question, prepared to accept the bad day along with all of the good ones that he's had.

His demeanor was much the same as it was after he took his first big league loss last month in Chicago, and approximately how he reacted after the "midge" game last October in Cleveland. It's remarkable that those are the only other two comparisons you can make of Chamberlain handling the media after a tough loss.

Chamberlain said that there's no pitcher who ever goes through life unscathed, and that he'll be ready and waiting to take the ball if Girardi gives it to him again on Wednesday. Girardi mentioned that you can learn a lot about a club's character by the way it comes back after a tough loss. With Cliff Lee and Chien-Ming Wang -- a combined 11-0 this year -- on the mound, this one should be worth tuning in to watch.

This was good reading this morning: For those of you ready to push the panic button on May 6, ESPN.com Page 2's Bill Byast has a reality check ready for you.

It occurs to me that 366 days have now passed since Roger Clemens stood up in George Steinbrenner's owners box at Yankee Stadium, waved to the crowd and, over deafening cheers that far exceeded anything that happened in the game, told the fans that "it's a privilege to be back, and I'll be talking to y'all soon."

It's a pretty amazing coincidence that Darrell Rasner just happened to start another Sunday game against the Mariners at the Stadium in early May, and this time, Clemens kept his distance -- obviously, a lot has changed in a year, and there's no reason to go through the play-by-play. I can tell you that being there for Clemens' Stadium return is still one of the most special moments I've been able to cover in person.

There had been weeks of speculation and the Yankees really pulled it off without a hitch -- it's still remarkable to me how they snuck Clemens in on a commercial jet, through the airport and on to the stadium without anyone finding out about it. When Bob Sheppard directed your attention to Steinbrenner's box during the seventh-inning stretch, and the scoreboard read, "Roger Clemens is now a Yankee!", I can remember my first thought. It's not printable. My second thought was to get a story up as soon as possible.

What I recall of the Yankees clubhouse that afternoon was a sense of pure giddiness and excitement, with the media pumping the idea of Clemens as a savior and most of the team doing little to downplay it. I know the Yankees won, but I'm not sure anyone paid much attention to poor Rasner, under the radar again.

Derek Jeter, to his credit, reminded people that Clemens can only pitch once every five days. Having followed Clemens' saga through the aborted ALDS Game 3 start and on through the Mitchell Report and in the hallways of the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C., May 6, 2007 seems so long ago.

Sitting here in the Garden State, it's strange to look at the schedule and see the Yankees dark for the evening. Don't get too used to it, but I'm sure the players are enjoying the chance to kick back and relax for a day. It's Cinco de Mayo, incidentally.

So far today I've used the afternoon to go for a four mile run and crack open the new John Feinstein book, 'Living on the Black.' I'll fire this plug in here because many of you might find this entertaining -- Feinstein followed Mike Mussina and Tom Glavine around for the entire '07 season and chronicled their ups and downs, the events and really, what it's like to be a big league pitcher. I'm only a few dozen pages in but, so far, thumbs up.

Interesting weekend out at the Stadium, wasn't it? They'll try to keep that momentum going with the Indians headed in Tuesday night for a three-game series, sending Andy Pettitte out against Fausto Carmona. As our preview notes, maybe it will be the time that Robinson Cano breaks out ... you know the Yankees can't wait for his slumbering bat to wake up.

As some of you may know, every other Monday is Yankees Mailbag day. We'll have a new one on MLB.com for you shortly but here's a few points I wanted to get to, but had to leave on the cutting room floor. ...

-- The Yankees have shown no inclination to move Derek Jeter to a new position and, though it may happen eventually, it won't be in '08. Gonzalez has hung around longer than anyone expected -- Joe Girardi had said that he'd be sent down as soon as Jeter's quadriceps injury was better, but then Wilson Betemit came down with a mysterious corneal ulcer and went on rehab with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

-- Andrew Brackman is going to miss all of '08 after Tommy John surgery. Humberto Sanchez is throwing off a mound in Tampa but has not yet pitched in a Minor League game. When he does, you can start the clock, but a good guess would be that he could be considered for an August callup.

-- Carl Pavano? Really? I must have had about 25 Pav questions, literally. Lisa Kennelly from the Newark Star-Ledger answered the question, "What is Pavano doing?" better than I can. The answer appears to be very little.

(By the way, for those of you who e-mail vulgar notes because I haven't answered your questions ... there are literally thousands of Mailbag questions and I can't personally answer each one. If you send a question to bryan.hoch@mlb.com, it has a much better chance of being answered.)

Last thought -- check out the Manager's View with Joe Girardi before every home game.

Last season at this point, it was fair to wonder what Johnny Damon's future held. This was the month that the Yankees decided to bump Damon out of center field in favor of Melky Cabrera, who was clearly outplaying Damon in every facet of the game and made an immediate impact, especially on defense. (Remember the chants of "Energy! Energy!" after the Wild Card clinching in St. Petersburg? That was all about Melky.)

Not too many people talked about it, but privately Damon wondered if there was even any future for him in New York. He wasn't even at the halfway point of a four-year contract he'd signed to play center field for the Yankees, and already he'd been pushed aside like a spare part. Damon was assured by the front office that they indeed did want him as a Yankee, and that seemed to satisfy his concerns. He had a pretty good season by the end of it.

Why bring this all up? What it gives you is a fairly accurate glimpse into how proud a player Damon is. He knows that the Yankees probably aren't the last team he'll play for in his big league career, and that's fine -- from Kansas City to Oakland to Boston to New York, there's been change.

But Damon still hopes people look to him as the sparkplug that makes the Yankees go.

"I consider myself a pretty good player in this league, and I don't want people to forget about me," he said after Saturday's game.

Hey, and if you have 30 minutes to kill, check out Yankees On Deck in a repeat airing Sunday at 5:30 p.m. ET on YES. I'll be checking in helping show a young cub reporter what it's like to cover the Yankees.

 

Chien-Ming Wang is quickly taking over Andy Pettitte's role as the Yankees' stopper. With a victory last night against the Mariners, the Yankees improved to 11-0 in the last eleven games Wang has pitched immediately following a loss. That's good for them, because Wang's win came on a day when Hank Steinbrenner decided to pipe up in Tampa, telling a reporter he is "very disappointed" with the way the Yankees have started the season.

That's not altogether surprising news. You know this lineup is missing two key components with Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada both out, and I'm not sure anyone expected that Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes would both go through April winless. Basically the Yankees will have to try and at least tread water through this stretch without their big guns and hope to make some ground when they do get the firepower back.

They'll have to play pretty close to perfect baseball to be a plus-.500 team with their second-string in the lineup, but on a night like Friday, a good pitching performance remedies much of the problem.

Can't say I saw that one coming. We were watching batting practice from the Yankees bench when Brian Cashman walked up and pushed my left leg aside, taking a seat. He'd just received some bad news on Phil Hughes and decided to spill it with an opening statement -- cracked rib, not oblique strain, and out until July, not late May.

Go figure. Darrell Rasner, who was 4-0 with a 0.87 ERA in five starts at Triple-A, is going to have every chance at an extended look beginning on Sunday. Rasner recently told The New York Times that he has developed a cutter to offset his curveball. That can only help -- you'll remember Joe Torre used to characterize Rasner as a "touch and feel guy," which was Torre-speak for soft-tosser who doesn't dominate anyone. His Triple-A numbers for '08 suggest that the Yankees might see a different guy on the mound Sunday against Seattle.

They've got other things to worry about here as they trail the Tigers, 4-3, in the fourth inning, trying to avoid a series sweep. Ian Kennedy retired seven of the first eight but was hit hard in the third inning, including a Miguel Cabrera triple that was misplayed by Bobby Abreu in right field. They're still in the game and Nate Robertson has already shown that he's hittable.

Before the game, the Yankees had very little to say about Phil Hughes' status, and during the game, their bats went similarly silent after the first inning.

Let's focus on pre-game. The Yankees' blanket statements before the game regarding Phil Hughes were contentious at their worst, as Joe Girardi's session grew ugly. Several times, Girardi said that Hughes was "is in the rotation right now," and when pressed and asked if Hughes was expected to make his next turn, Girardi said, "That's the plan. There's no one else here." At one point, he said, "I don't want to get irritated, but do you want me to tell you when I'm hitting and running too?"

No, but it'd be nice to know for sure who is pitching on Sunday. The plan changed at around 6:30 p.m. ET, when Hughes was examined by Dr. Stuart Hershon and found to have a strained right oblique. The severity of the injury, only Hughes and the Yankees really know for sure (they're calling it "mild"), but in the short-term this knocks Hughes out of the rotation for a while. Darrell Rasner will be on the way up to take Sunday's start instead.

Hughes probably was going to need to go to Triple-A anyway to work things out, and maybe this saves him some face in that he isn't being demoted per se, but instead headed down on a rehab assignment. Either way, the early results -- for both Hughes and the Yankees - have not been particularly good. Ian Kennedy gets to try and make May a better month tonight.