DETROIT -- How are things going for the New York Yankees right about now?
Well, let's see. Reliever Chris Britton was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Friday. He had a 9 p.m. flight out of Detroit.
Reliever Jonathan Albaladejo worked 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief Friday night before departing with a 2-and-0 count on Placido Polanco in the sixth inning here Friday night with a sore right elbow.
"I think that occurred around 9:10," Yankees manager Joe Girardi noted.
So the Yanks were sending word to Britton: Abort flight!
"He'll turn around and come back now," Girardi said.
And Albaladejo will fly to New York for an MRI on his elbow.
"At first the pain was like a needle going into my elbow," Albaladejo said. "I just couldn't do it no more. It was kind of like a burn."
According to Girardi, it's either a strained muscle or sprained ligament. Either way, the Yankees' bullpen took another hit.
Oh, and Hideki Matsui's 17-game hitting streak came to an end. OK, so he wasn't exactly close to the club-record 56 put together by a fella named Joe DiMaggio back in 1947. Still ... Matsui was 0-for-4 when he came up to bat in the ninth with Bobby Abreu on second base, two out and the Yanks trailing 6-5.
Detroit manager Jim Leyland called for closer Todd Jones to intentionally walk Matsui. Shelly Duncan ended the game with a fly ball to center.
"I wasn't surprised at all," Girardi said of Leyland's interesting strategical maneuver which involved putting the go-ahead run on base. "You're talking about a veteran player who has been in this situation a long time vs. a young man who hasn't been in it much at this level."
Oh, and entering the game? Matsui led the AL with a .426 on-base percentage, and his .345 batting average was second in the AL to Minnesota's Joe Mauer, who checked in at .346.
Likes: Toronto's Roy Halladay already having pitched four complete games this season. ... Detroit's home whites. ... The out-of-town scoreboard -- in whatever stadium you're sitting in. ... Former umpire Bruce Froemming now hanging around press boxes. ... The cheeseburgers at Miller's Bar in Dearborn are fabulous.
Dislikes: Interstate 75 closed for a couple of miles just south of Detroit as Michigan's never-ending road construction continues.
Rock 'n' Roll Lyric of the Day:
"It's a beautiful day
"Don't let it get away"
-- U2, Beautiful Day
