Friday’s Child

I’m pretty sure, in this episode, Kei Igawa gets to play the role of Lieutenant Grant - which means he gets a red shirt, no first name, and he’s a goner within ten minutes.

O.K., what’s this all about?

In case you missed just about every other Yankees blog and/or beat-writer report late last night and/or early this morning, there’s a lot of questions today in Yankeeland regarding who will pitch for the team on Thursday and Friday - as a result of the rain-out in Motown yesterday.

Andy Pettitte was supposed to go yesterday. But, now, he gets pushed back to today. This means that Worm Killer Wang goes Tuesday and Moose Mussina goes Wednesday - which was supposed to be Kei (”Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick“) Igawa’s next turn.

So, now, on Thursday, the Yankees can start “Hit Me” Igawa, delay him a day and start Darrell Rasner, or skip him completely and use Rasner and then find someone else for Friday. Or, you could skip Iggy, use someone else on Thursday and then save Rasner for Friday.

Ah, but, you see, Friday’s Child is the issue because that’s the first game of a series against the Mets. And, with Hank Stein sitting down in Tampa, loading his six-shooters, you don’t want to set yourself up for target practice by throwing a lamb out there against the Metsies.

Confused yet? Wait, it gets better. There’s a question of who to use if you ditch Igawa completely. Do you bring back Ian Kennedy or someone else from the minors? If someone else, who?

Boy, I wish the Yankees had paid this much attention to who starts what game during the 2004 ALCS and 2005 ALDS. In any event, I think I can offer some advice here for New York - as well as offer some information regarding what they may be considering as well.

First, I have a better chance of starting against the Mets on Friday than Igawa does…so, at best, Igawa starts on Thursday…or is skipped completely. And, I think it’s going to be the latter - basis on how disgusted the Yankees sounded about his last start. So, who starts on Thursday - Ranser or someone else?

I can see the point about wanting to save Rasner for the Mets - as he’s one of your hottest pitchers. But, let’s not forget two things here: One, the games against the Rays count too - and, you don’t want to get waxed down in Tampa, in front of the Family Stein, and have to tax your pen the day before a Mets series. Secondly, if you start Rasner on Friday, then he’s pitching with five days rest - and, that’s not a great idea for a control/touch type pitcher.

So, if it’s me: Darrell Rasner pitches on Thursday.

Which brings us back to Friday’s Child. Most of the fanboys in Yankeeland want to see the return of Ian Kennedy. But, Kennedy is scheduled to pitch in Triple-A today. So, the Yankees would need to hold him back, in some form, today and then have him pitch on weird rest on Friday. Not a good idea. Also, on The Joe Girardi Show yesterday, General Joe said that he watched Ian’s last start (in Triple-A) and offered that he looked very good, and improved, but that he still had some things to work on in terms of his curve (if I recall correctly). So, I don’t think it’s going to be Kennedy on Friday.

Steven White is another pitcher the Yankees have at Triple-A. But, he still has some issues and is also slated to pitch today for Scranton (as they have a double-header). So, it doesn’t seem likely that he would be your guy to face the Mets on Friday.

I doubt the Yankees would bump anyone up from Double-A for a game against the Mets. So, who else is left in Triple-A? There’s Jeffrey Marquez and Dan Giese. The former has been banged around a bit this season - so, Marquez is out.

That leaves Dan Giese - who last started on May 10th, throwing well, and who’s next regular turn would be on Thursday. The problem for him is that he’s not on the 40-man roster. But, that could be fixed by moving Phil Hughes to the 60-day D.L. and adding Giese to the forty.

And, if I were the Yankees that’s what I would do: Ditch Igawa, start Rasner on Thursday, and call up Giese for Friday. Now, let’s see if they agree with me.

May 12, 2008 | Filed Under Trap Door Items

Comments

6 Responses to “Friday’s Child”

Corey on May 12th, 2008 11:05 am

haha i love the star trek ref
gphunt on May 12th, 2008 12:48 pm

No Chase Wright for a game?
Steve Lombardi on May 12th, 2008 1:00 pm

It’s possible. But, they rushed him once before and he got toasted. Do you want to do that to him twice?
baileywalk on May 12th, 2008 1:15 pm

Suppose this is a little off-topic, but according to Ken Davidoff, the Red Sox were hoping the Yankees dumped Kei Igawa so they could make a little back-door move and pick him up. So I guess the Yankees’ scouts weren’t the only ones to like his stuff.
Don on May 12th, 2008 2:38 pm

Probably the Bosox were hoping Igawa could teach Matsuzaka how to throw strikes…….
Kennedy Thursday, Rasner Friday : WasWatching.com on May 12th, 2008 6:22 pm

[...] the Yankees didn’t ask me for an [...]