Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Not bad at all

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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