Igawa Kei got a surprise start for an injured Roger Clemens against the Devil Rays on Tuesday. It was his first start since being recalled Sept. 9.

His line was an impressive 5IP 2H 0ER–the one blight was 5 walks. He might have been in line for a win because the Yankees went up 4-0 on a 2nd inning grand slam off the bat of A-Rod. But the Yankee bullpen; first Edwar “Taz” Ramirez, then Brian Bruney, were hammered in the 6th surrendering the lead. The Yanks ended up losing 7-6.

Igawa’s line is deceptive. He wasn’t as good as zero runs in 5 innings would indicate, but he wasn’t as bad as the 5 walks might. Four of the walks came in the first two innings when he looked to be nervous and a little too careful with his pitches.   

 He was fortunate to face the Rays who rarely see first pitches they don’t like. Even when Igawa had minor control problems the Rays lineup helped him, often swinging at high fastballs out of the zone.

Carlos Pena, who is hitting lefties much better than he did earlier in the year, was the only batter to hit the ball hard. And oddly, that AB, in the 3rd, was probably Igawa’s best pitch sequence of the night.  

In Sept. Pena has been locked in, hitting .462 against lefties, to cap an inprobable season. Igawa started him with a slow curve called for a strike. He threw the same pitch, but further outside for a ball.  The third pitch was a fastball that went high.

The fourth pitch was a nice curve on the inside that completely fooled Pena who swung and missed. Visibly frustrated Pena took a walk, came back and just fouled off another fastball on the outside corner into the seats. The next pitch was a fastball in the same location and Pena ripped it into right for a base hit. 

Igawa would go on to walk BJ Upton to load the bases creating a swarm in the Yankees bullpen. But a visit from Ron Guidry seemed to calm him down and he came back and got Delmon Young to fly out to center. (Incidentally if you’re voting for ROY you can probably get a free car out of the Tampa broadcast team in exchange for a vote.)

In Pena’s third AB he hit a rocket to 1B and if not for a diving stop by Mientkiewicz it would have been his second hit of the night. The only other hit off Igawa was on a weak ball hit up the middle that a healthy Derek Jeter would have made an easy play on. It could have even been called an error.

If Igawa has another solid appearance or two over the weekend could he squeeze his way onto the playoff roster? It’s likely that one more solid appearance would get him in. The Yankees bullpen, much like the Red Sox, is in tatters, and hardly a force with the likes of Farnsworth, Bruney (who’s seen his ERA go up a full run this month), and Taz, who likely pitched his way off the playoff roster during the game. 

Some Yankees panic on this subject can be found here. Be sure to check out the comments sections where some of their other bloggers tend to check in.