Chase Wright won his first major league start as the Yanks beat the Indians last night. The line won't challenge Johan Santana (5 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K), but give the kid credit -- he kept a good lineup in check while the Yanks battered Jake Westbrook (and it's been LONG SINCE time to stop complaining that the Yanks traded him years ago -- got that Joel Sherman? He's had one good year, the rest is a variant of medircr). What Wright did is impressive because he never started a AAA game and never started above class A before this season.
Better yet, after walking the first two Indians hitters he faced, he didn't allow the 3-4-5 hitters to get a ball out of the infield in the first inning. After he gave up a third-inning homer to Travis Hafner (no dishonor there, Hafner hit 42 in 454 AB last year -- a 10.8 AB/HR ratio; Babe Ruth's career rate was 11.8), Wright bore down and had more swinging strikes (a solid measure of a pitcher's effectiveness) in the rest of the third inning than he'd had in the first two combined.
Of course, it helps when the boys put up a snowman in the first two innings (eight runs -- 8, looks like a snowman, get it? Aw, you people are hopeless). But Wright earned his prorated salary yesterday. I'm hoping he builds on that.
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