1. KURODA'S GEM: Hiroki Kuroda's teammates could not have asked for more from the veteran, who made the first start of his career on three days' rest in Game 2 of the ALCS on Sunday.

He certainly can ask them to give him some help, though.

Kuroda pitched a fantastic game as the hard-luck loser in Sunday's game. He was tagged for three runs in 7 2/3 innings, but pitched better than his final line indicated, as he struck out 11.

"Looking at some of the games recently, I knew it was going to be really close, I had to minimize the damage," Kuroda said through a translator.

2. JETER NOT THERE: The Yankees played without shortstop Derek Jeter and his teammates acknowledged it wasn't the same without their captain in the dugout. Jeter fractured his left ankle Saturday and was not at the Stadium and won't travel with the team to Detroit.

"Of course it's different. He's your captain and such a huge part of the team," Yankees outfielder Raul Ibanez said. "At the same time we got to battle back and pull together and do this together."

3. NO PLAY FOR TEX: In the seventh inning with the game scoreless and runners on first and third with one out, Delmon Young hit a ball near the seats in the foul territory diagonal from first base. First baseman Mark Teixeira ran over and seemed to have a play on the ball, but a fan got in the way.

Teixeira didn't make much of a deal about the play.

"There's a guy on third there so if I catch it and fall into the stands, he might score anyway," Teixeira said. "I don't think it was a big play in the game."

4. LONG STILL HAS FAITH: Yankees batters haven't given hitting coach Kevin Long any reason to have faith in them, but he still believes his group will put it all together. The Yankees have scored in just one of the 21 innings of the ALCS.

"It's not over. I know that things don't look good right now, but I believe in my guys," Long said. "Like I said, it's an uphill battle and it's not going to get any easier, but there's some fight left. We'll find a way to get it done."

5. VERLANDER ON TAP: The Yankees didn't do themselves any favors falling behind 0-2, as they will now have to try to right the ship against the AL's reigning MVP, Justin Verlander.

"It's a fun challenge. People think we're crazy to say that, but it is a fun challenge," Teixeira said. "If you're going to win a World Series you're going to have beat the best, and he's the best right now. So we're going to go into Detroit, the crowd's going to be rocking, they're going to be cheering for their own team and we have an opportunity to do something special and win a few games out there."