By JUSTIN TERRANOVA
June 11, 2008
A career minor leaguer and a career reliever face off tonight at McAfee Coliseum in an unlikely pitcher's duel between the Yankees (33-32) and Athletics (34-30) (10:05, YES, WCBS).
Darrell Rasner (3-3, 2.58 ERA) and Justin Duchscherer (5-4, 2.32 ERA) were not expected to be the most consistent pitchers in their respective rotations, but both are having career years when their teams need them most.
Rasner has taken the place of Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes, who were supposed to be the young saviors of the Yankees. But both struggled then got hurt, and in came Rasner, who has secured his spot in the rotation.
"If he continues to throw like he's throwing, there's really no way you can take him out of the rotation," Joe Girardi said. "There's no guarantees in this game. You just ask him to keep doing what he's doing. He's been as good as anyone we have."
Duchscherer spent most of 2007 on the disabled list and was moved into the rotation this year after being Huston Street's setup man for several seasons. Duchscherer was slated to be the A's fifth starter, but with Joe Blanton struggling and Rich Harden's injury woes, Duchscherer has turned into their most dependable pitcher.
And he likely will not be intimidated by the Bombers' potent lineup. He shut down the Red Sox on May 24, carrying a no-hitter into the seventh, and threw eight shutout innings in the A's 3-0 win.
"I don't remember him throwing one pitch that looked like it didn't have a purpose," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "He might not have thrown a strike on a certain pitch, but he just commanded everything."
And Duchscherer might be looked at to go deep into this game, too. The A's might be out without their closer, Street, who is questionable with a strain suffered during a 13-8 win over the Rangers on June 1.
Rasner ran into some tough luck his previous time out. He held the Royals to two runs over eight innings, the longest outing of his career, but the Yanks fell 2-1 and Rasner got the loss.
"I know better than to try and figure all of that stuff out," Rasner said. "I just want to keep continuing what I have been doing, and that's helping the team win games, not try to do too much, just staying aggressive."
With Yankees.com and Athletics.com
