Considering that from now until October, I'll be highly critical time and again of the Yanks, I must offer praise when it's warranted. And right now, it is.
The RedSawx had a chance to slap the Yanks around this week -- the Yanks were in Bawstin for a three-game series without Chacon (DL) or Mooooooooooose (rotation set-up) pitching and lost the first game of the series with their best available starter getting swatted around (Wang). But the Yanks won the next two despite having a shaky 'pen (Tuesday) and a shaky Unit (Wednesday). How? Surprising effectiveness of Jaret Wright, who gutted out 5 shutout innings despite a first-inning injury on Tuesday, and actually hitting Tim Wakefield hard (6 ER).
On Wednesday, the Yanks played without Johnny Damon (who's been playing hurt the whole month) and scored 8 thanks to Melky Cabrera (4 RBI) of all people. Kudos to Kyle Farnsworth for the game-saving whiff of Fat Papi Wednesday on a night that Torre would not use Rivera to bail out his set-up men (Mo went 1.2 innings for the save on Tuesday).
The Yanks are aching: Pavano is out for the year following elbow surgery after looking sharp in rehab before the bone spur caught up with him; Matsui is out for 3+ months, Posada is injured, Chacon is on the DL, Sheff missed about a dozen, Damon is banged up with a broken toe, etc. So the Yanks need to tread water for awhile.
Here's hoping they do not follow past stupid patterns and end up trading Philip Hughes, the crown jewel of their farm system. The Yanks successfully resisted trading Wang in the past, and his sinker kills opposing hitters. No coughing up the future stud for a fill-in/has-been-to-be, please (see: Smoltz, John for Alexander, Doyle; Bagwell, Jeff for Andersen, Larry; Kasmir, Scott for Zambrano, Victor; Buhner, Jay for Phelps, Ken).
No comments:
Post a Comment