I would like to say I feel for you Yankee fans but after the successes you have had over the last 10 years and the failures my Orioles have had I have to say that I have little sympathy. I think you guys gotta get back to the formula that brought you the championship run – Get “The Boss’” son out of the damn way much like George was forced out of the way. Start building from within again like they did the last time they stunk. I think the song “The End” by the Doors sums up the Yankees this year. Its the end of the road and time to rebuild. As for your young pitching woes – ya these guys are having growing pains but they were rushed to the majors, and young pitchers tend to struggle. That definitely must have been a painful game for you guys to watch. I mean I turned it off when the Orioles were down 8-4 and I wake up to find out they one in extra after being down in extra innings. Worst thing is the Orioles can’t hit, so Yankee pitching really is struggling. Good blog entry!

baileywalk, 2008-10–I’ll put the over-under at 30. (55 for Santana and 25 for Hughes and Kennedy).

I’d like to know what they have against Britton.

That’s why he came cheap, so that he gets cut when one of the guys on the farm is ready.
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There’s no “when,” though. Kids have been ready since the start of the season. They had better options than him coming out of spring training. And now you have three guys in AAA — Patterson, Robertson and Britton — who can do the job.

Joel, listen up: Santana pitched a game the Mets had to win, against a rival, trying to avoid a sweep — AND HE LOST. He melted down in the seventh inning and they lost. That’s not a stopper ace, as you called him. And who cares if Santana has better numbers than Wang — Santana is a better pitcher than Wang is (and he’s also pitching against weaker competition). I know that Santana is a second-half pitcher, but he wasn’t last year, and his stuff simply isn’t as good as it used to be. He was a great pitcher; now he’s a merely good one. Is he better than anyone on the Yankees’ staff? Probably. But that doesn’t mean I would pay him twenty million dollars a year for the next six years. He’s overpaid now, will be severely overpaid in two years, and the Mets fans know it (trust me, I hear it all the time).

No, I guess Santana is not an ace. He only has more K’s, more IP, a better ERA and a better WHIP than our ace–and he’s known for being second-half pitcher.

What’s the over-under now on how many more games Santana going to win in the next three years than Hughes and Kennedy combined?

Santana hasn’t been a stopper ace. Have you seen him pitch this year? Velocity is down and he’s more hittable than ever. He went into Atlanta will all the pressure in the world on him and melted down in the seventh and lost. Hardly a stopper ace. It’s questionable if he’s an ace at all anymore.

Saying what Kennedy can and cannot do at this point is just silly. Anyone remember Ervin Santana? The kid for the Angels? He was a hot prospect, and then fell on his face, and everyone gave up on him, and now this year he’s hot shit again. He pitched a CG last night against the Tigers. My point is that when someone is so young and so inexperienced, writing their HoF speech or obituary is pointless. (Not that I haven’t been guilty of both, of course.)

And for what it’s worth, Kennedy has much better stuff than Tyler Clippard.

Yeah, I loved General Joe referring to Hawkins in the post-game as “not making his pitches.” That was the understatement of the year.

Every ball was hit hard that inning. If A-Rod had hit a grand slam, Hawkins would have coughed up a 5 spot.

In terms of Kennedy: Let’s not kid ourselves, healthy or not this kid is not going to be able to pitch in the AL East anytime soon.

So just to sum up, we have American Idle Jr., the second coming of Tyler Clippard, and a CF with a .695 OPS–and the Mets have a stopper ace in Johan Santana.

Tex Antoine: Hawkins is a placeholder, nothing more, nothing less. That’s why he came cheap, so that he gets cut when one of the guys on the farm is ready.

Zack: Exactly. Theo looked like an idiot the first year, and then a genius last year.

We heard all along that Hawkins was brought here because of his one-year deal and the painlessness of cutting him if he didn’t work out. Well, guess what? As everyone predicted, he hasn’t worked out. He had a decent stretch in between sucking, but he’s not much more than a mopup guy. So just cut him already. Bring up Scott Patterson or David Robertson.

I know a lot of people were in favor of picking up Hawkins because of the lack of risk, but they had literally half a dozen pitchers who more than likely would have pitched better — and they would have been tethered to none of them, because they could have sent them back down to the minors if they struggled.

And while there’s no reason to panic about Kennedy’s back problem, it’s slightly disturbing that someone who was never hurt in college is now experiencing his second straight year with the same injury. Is this going to keep recurring? Phil’s injury just seems like a fluke to me — I don’t think they even know how he broke his rib — but Kennedy is suffering the same injury in back-to-back years, which is a little unsettling.