Mariano closes it out for a 1-2-3 inning including 2 strikeouts! Very nice...But I heard the Yankees are like 6-81 with RISP? Pick it up...
3 saves already for Mariano. Didn't it take a few weeks last year just to get his first? Nice start for the bullpen /farnsworthhawkins.
He got his 3rd save in May last year. Wang is the real deal for this team. He will probably get 19 wins again this year if not more. He missed three weeks last year at the start. He just needs to pitch better in the playoffs if we get that far.
So as of now, the Yankees are in 4th and the Red Sox are in 5th and the Orioles lead the division. :lol: Gotta love April.
As long as we stay around .500 until the bats come alive we will be ok. Other than the debacle Kennedy pitched the starting pitching hasn't been bad at all. The fact we have scored the second fewest runs in the league is the only reason we have 3 losses.
:rofl:a couple of years ago,werent the O's in first by over 10 games for a while only to completely collapse and finish just above the rays? It will come down to the Yankees and Sox like always,but the Jays may be pretty close too.
Yeah,the RISP problem was bad last year,too. I can't get over that,seeing what our lineup is. Just doesn't make any sense at all.
He had a big game and a chance at a monster one if he got a 4th hit when the bases were loaded. My guess is he stays in that #5 spot even after Giambi comes back. Not sure why ge was batting 8th anyway.
I read that too after my post. I still think he is way too important where he is right now. Of course that would change if Farnsworth or somebody else could take over the setup role as effectively as he does it. Maybe they get k-Rod after this season and he agrees to setup for Rivera until he retires. I kind of doubt he would though. I must say the way he started off yesterday was impressive. His first pitch was a curveball followed by a 101 MPH fastball. That kind of pitching will make grown men cry.
I missed all of Pettite's innings on Saturday, and the entire game on Sunday, so I really don't know how we performed this weekend, other than our records, and what I read in this thread. Are we still looking like little leaguers at the plate? When the hell are we going to start scoring some runs? How's Giambi? Is he out for a while, or was it just a tweak? And jonnyd, while I'm not a huge fan of Matsui when he has a glove on his hand, there's no denying that the guy can hit. As long as he's a DH, you have to like him in the lineup. Also, it wasn't just Cappy that defended the Hawkins thing. I did too.
We got 9 hits yesterday, the most we have had all year but still there are only a few people hitting. A-Rod, Cabrerra, now Matsui and Abreu. Everybody else sucks. Really it's Jeter and Posada that have to get going. Posada was bad all spring and still is. No contract year I guess. Cano had a huge spring but hasn't found it yet now that the season as started. Giambi they say is only a tweak and he is day to day. I'm always amazed that it seems these guys forget how to loosen up when the weather is cold.
Here's an article from today's Post that is taking my point of view on Chamberlain. http://www.nypost.com/seven/04072008/sports/yankees/matter_of_jo_mo_105331.htm
Here are the two most significant pieces of that article, and while the author tries to make them about supporting the point that Joba should stay in the setup role, they do quite the opposite: Unless you get stellar starting pitching, not even great, but Cy Young level starting pitching, you have to hit, a lot. Right now, we have two starters we can tentatively be confident with. Wang and Hughes. After that, we can probably assume Andy will pitch well enough to win about 15. If we hit. Moose is going to win maybe 6-8 before the break. Again, if we hit. Otherwise, he'll be lucky to pull off 5 wins. Kennedy? I haven't got a clue. I'm hoping his first start was an anomaly, and he'll get his control back. Then, with some hitting, he can win 12-15. So if we assume Wang and Hughes each win 17 (I'm doing this an average. I figure Wang will get 19, and Hughes around 15), plus the above numbers in best-case scenario, we're talking 72 wins from the rotation. In worst-case, we're talking Wang (17), Hughes (12), Andy (12), Moose (5), Kennedy (10), for a total of 56. Factor in a lack of run support, and we're talking about little chance at even sniffing October. If you add Joba's potential for 8+ wins in the second half, on top of Moose's wins, you'd have a much better scenario where about half our wins come from the rotation in the best-case. No way Moose wins 16 pitching all year unless we start scoring 15 a game. (Yes, that's an exaggeration, Cappy :wink If the situation was that Joba was about to take the reigns from Mo, then I might have to say okay. However, we still have the immortal Rivera pitching the 9th for the next 3 years. There is no reason to waste Joba in a setup role for that time. We're talking a totally different pitcher than Mo. Rivera didn't have anything near the arsenal that Joba does. Joba needs to be a starter. This shouldn't even be a matter of discussion.
God, Joel Sherman is an idiot. Here's the thing... as "important" as those eighth innings might be, they have nothing compared to the combined importance of the first through sixth (and maybe seventh) innings. There's a very easy way to dismiss this argument and show the silliness of it. If the eighth inning is so important, perhaps the Yanks should take Wang and move HIM into that role. Imagine if he only had to throw one inning! That sinker would be 98mph! Or why don't the Tigers put Verlander in that role? Better yet, the Sox should put Beckett in the eighth inning, Dice-K in the seventh, and Buccholz in the sixth. What a bridge to Papelbon!!! Why don't you see those moves? Because top-flight starters are significantly more valuable than the best relievers in the world. And teams know that. Bruney and Ohlendorf are looking good so far. I have faith that they (or someone else) will be able to adequately handle the setup role. It's unlikely that anyone will be as dominant as Joba in the pen, but they don't need to be that dominant. They just need to be decent. One caveat to my feelings about Joba: If the Yanks make the playoffs, and their rotation is looking solid come October, I have no problem with putting Joba back in the pen for those short series. That's a big if, of course.
That may well be the single-greatest argument I've ever seen in a baseball thread. Agreed. I see Bruney moving into the setup role. He probably should have been used there more last year, but Clueless Joe was busy pissing people off. I haven't seen enough of Ohlendorf to be sold one way or the other. I know that I saw the other day when he threw a total meatball that wound up between the bleachers and right field seats. At the same time, I've heard good things about him, so it'd be nice if he can fit that 7th inning role. If we're in October, I think it's pretty much a no-brainer that Joba hits the pen again. The only way I see him not is if Pettitte collapses this year, which would mean we didn't make the playoffs anyway. Either that, or if he's such a ridiculous success that we then consider him better as a Game 1 guy than Wang or Hughes, which I wouldn't necessarily complain about.
As usual, there are two ways to look at it. I see your point but take the opposite view. I believe more games may be lost in the late innings than won by the starters IF we are hitting. By that I mean we will keep in close if we put up our usual 6-7 runs no matter who is starting but to rely on Hawkins, Farnsworth and whoever to keep us ahead or at least keep it close isn't going to happen if the results from the BP prior to Joba last year are any indication. Second, did you hear Mo say he would seriously consider retiring if the Yankees win the WS this year? Joba may be closer to that role then we think.
