It’s All About the Pitching…The Yankees offense gets all the press, but Yanks have been riding high this season with starting pitching so dominating (other than Vazquez) it’s looked like the Orioles of the late 1960s. After AJ Burnett’s 7.1 innings of one-run ball last night, he’s moved his ERA to 1.99 over six starts. Sabathia’s ERA is 2.74. Pettitte’s is 2.12. And Phil Hughes, who has pitched best of all, is 1.44. Even with niggling injuries to aging players–A-rod’s knee, Posada’s calf, Rivera’s rib cage–or more serious injuries to younger players–Granderson’s groin–the Yanks will cruise to the post season if those 4 pitchers remain healthy and pitch somewhere close to level they’ve pitched to so far. (And btw, it’s only the O’s but Joba is 2 for 2 in back to back save opportunities in Rivera’s absence, throwing hard with a good slider.)
Who needs 12 pitchers?…Interesting piece by Joe Pawlikowski at River Avenue Blues about the Yankees 12-man pitching staff, a luxury for a team whose starters have been pitching 7-9 innings routinely. I never liked carrying 7 relievers. Seems nuts to me unless you have a bunch of inconsistent, 5 inning pitchers. The Yanks only have one of them. How about a third catcher? Already Posada has missed time and left games early with injuries leaving the Yanks with Cervelli and only Ramiro Pena as emergency catcher. And Posada should be spending some time at DH anyway. I don’t get a team like the Yanks carrying 12 relievers and only two catchers.
Missing Austin Jackson…Over at the NY Times Bats blog Justin Sablich offers an early evaluation of the Granderson tradeand it doesn’t look good so far for the Yanks. It’s hard to evaluate Granderson since he’s injured, although after an early hot start he had gone ice cold. But Austin Jackson has played very well for Detroit. True he’s striking out a ton but Jackson, April’s AL rookie of the month, is paying big dividends. To date he’s hitting .376 with a .420 OBP, 1 HR, 23 runs scored, and 5 stolen bases.
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