Weird 2 game series. Game 1- Matsuzaka vs Hughes Game 2- Beckett vs Sabathia Probably a Yankees "sweep".
Never predict a sweep for either team when it's Yankees - Red Sox. That being said, I think Hughes will have an easier time against the 5 inning wonder Dice-K.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Nice! :up: Anyway, I see us taking both games. I'm actually surprised Beckett is pitching. I thought he was getting skipped? Or was that his last start? Anyway, I can't wait to hear the "ovation" for him at the Stadium. I think we take both.
The dude has given the Sox a quality start 47% of the time for his career. Over the the past two seasons, it's been 27% of the time. Never mind the fact that it's debatable whether a quality start is what jonnyd was talking about when he said Matsuzaka is "good when he's good," Matsuzaka doesn't pitch well for the Sox often enough for me to be worried the way jonnyd apparently is.
It's really important for the Yanks to take care of business against these .500, fourth place teams. This is where they lay the groundwork for having meaningful division games.
so theyre talking about Girardi skipping Vasques this week on fatcessa. I have to say, I htink its completely retarded to skip him now. Especially coming off his last performance which was great
Well, Vasques isn't pitching at all this season from what I can tell. Vazquez, on the other hand, is getting a skip in the rotation again. :wink: Anyway, I agree with Girardi on this one. If you're one of those who doesn't believe that psyche plays any part of Vazquez's performance, then this is no big deal either way. It just means he stands to get a few extra days rest. If it was just mechanics and he's simply "figured it out" then a few extra days of rest shouldn't hurt him. I'm sure he'll still throw on the side this week. If you're one of those (like me) who thinks his mentality plays at least some factor in his performance, the last thing you want to do is have him pitch in Yankee Stadium against Boston. If he so much as walks Youkilis you won't even hear Kay's voice on YES over the boos. His last game was a good rebound game, but whether you agree with it or not, he has a lot left to prove to the people in the seats. Unless you want to risk 50,000 boo birds ruining the rest of Javy's season, he's best served by waiting until the team heads to Shea, where he can dominate a AAAA club and show he's back on track.
Posada is out tonight, A-Rod is DHing, and Pena is playing 3rd Why is Girardi suddenly being so cautious playing Pena every other game?
He does seem to be resting too many guys too often. We already have Thames and Winn in every lineup. Now you add Pena, and put Cervelli in without Posada at least in the lineup and you've got a significantly weakened lineup.
I wouldn't call his last start "great" by any stretch. It was a very good, solid outing yes. His line was impressive, but I am still not sold on his location and overall stuff. Too many times Posada was put his glove on one side of the plate and had to bring it back. DET hitters missed them this time, but that will not be the case most of the time. I saw a good amount of flat 88-90MPH fastballs, and Igne struck out on an 84MPH pitch right down the middle, and then hit a weak grounder on a 88 MPH fastball that IMO could have been easily hit. I think now pitchers get too much of a pat on the back for just making it past the 7th inning. I could go on forever about how dumb I think the "quality start" stat is. 6 innings pitched with a 4.5 ERA or lower (3 earned runs or less) is not what I would label a quality start, but this is the times we live in in baseball. Now that my rant is over, I agree with Girardi about skipping Javy this start. No doubt last start was a confidence booster because there was nowhere but up, but that doesn't mean we should put him in a NY vs BOS situation right off the bat. A few hits from our rivals and that confidence and nowhere to be found, and the boos will make it worse. I think having him start the subway series is a great idea. Girardi shows him confidence by giving him the game one nod, and it gives Vazquez more time to relish in his first good start of the year.
And Johnson is out until July..at least...if all the stars align perfectly Cashman will be gone too. http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/05/nick-johnson-needs-surgery-likely-out-until-july.html.php
