Considering Randy Johnson's recent struggles, the Yanks need to take a sharp look at their pitching brain trust. Ron Guidry is in his first year as pitching coach so he needs whatever help he can get but his knowledge of how to pitch should suffice to help Johnson, especially considering that Guidry threw the same two pitches Johnson has lived off -- fastball, slider. That is a major project for the year that should not be. Guidry needs input from Yankee bullpen coach Joe Kerrigan -- a poor manager whilst with the RedSawx, but a fine pitching coach with them before his managerial stint (just look at the stiffs the Sawx used other than Pedro in '98 and '99 while winning 91 and 94 games in those years).
More important, and absolutely deadly from the Yanks' view, is the players they failed to improve during the Stottlemyre years. From Ted Lilly the Redsawx killer who is off to a hot start and who picked up 2-3 mph on his heater after leaving the Yanks when the A's adjusted his form, to Jose Contreras the WhiteSawx game 1 ALDS and ALCS starter who is sporting an ERA sub 1.50, to Javy Vazquez who lost his command in NYC but is suddenly sharp in Chicago, the Yanks have a long list of notable failures. The latter two may face the Yanks in the playoffs, if the Yanks get there.
Even the Mooooooooooooooooooose's resurgence to date is unrelated to the Yankee pitching brain trust -- as Joel Sherman noted in yesterday's NY Post, Moooooooooooooose only learned he was tipping his changeup when Jorge Posada told him after bashing some Moooooooooooooose changes in an intrasquad game this Spring.
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