Getting dominated by mediocre pitchers time and again is quite a reflection of where the Yanks are at right now.
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I won’t deny that they have been dominated by some mediocre pitchers but Burnett is 6-1 with a 3.22 ERA since the All-Star break with 52 K’s in 44.2 innings. He’s been pitching a lot better than mediocre lately. No surprise he dominated the Yankees last night.

A.J. Burnett’s stats agst the Yankees this yr:

3-0, 1.61 ERA, 24 K’s in 22.1 innings

His record agst other teams in which he has made at least 2 starts:

Ana: 1-1, 4.71 ERA
Balt: 2-1, 9.82 ERA
Det: 2-0, 5.73 ERA
Oak: 1-1, 6.61 ERA
TB: 1-2, 3.15 ERA
TX: 1-1, 7.30

Getting dominated by mediocre pitchers time and again is quite a reflection of where the Yanks are at right now.

That’s the problem with Sexson gone now. Giambi has to face LHP.
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Platoon Splits
RHP: .253/.387/.510 (.897 OPS)
LHP: .237/.388/.495 (.883 OPS)

Giambi has been a joke period. He’s useless right now.

~~Why not Betemit? ~~

As a RH-batter, he’s a joke.

in fairness to Damon, in five of his seven games before this one, he was the DH and not playing the field. And, this was only the 4th time in his last 41 games where he has played in centerfield.
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Nah, it’s not like he’s new to the position.
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Agreed. Both balls were catchable and the one in the 8th was an inexcusable drop. Damon had a big part in blowing the game last night, even if A-Rod haters want to argue otherwise.

You probably didn’t realize it because it looked like he was making a great play, when in fact he actually made the play more difficult. I’ve seen enough Red Sox games to be pretty sure of this. I also used to play CF and I always thought he was one of the worst CF’s as far as taking a route to the ball and judging it while going back towards the fence.

I can’t say that I ever thought of Damon as being weak going back for fly balls. This game seemed more like a case of a couple of fluke muffs whereas, going forward, the greater risk of Damon playing CF is how often you’ll hear “just out of the reach of Damon …” as well as the risk that as his legs take more of a pounding, the rest of his game will decline. Its a risk the Yankees had to take but …

Why not Betemit?

Giambi vs Power Pitchers:
.172 AVG/.298 OBP/.306 SLG/.604 OPS/161 PA

Giambi vs Relief Pitchers:
.177 AVG/.326 OBP/.319 SLG/.645 OPS/138 PA

Anyone can do better than that. Plus you can’t ignore the fact he K’d three times before that. Not like he was getting good swings on the ball. For that matter he hasn’t hit the ball good for the past month:

Giambi Last 28 Days:

.221 AVG/.338 OBP/.397 SLG/.735 OPS/80 PA

Betemit vs Relief Pitchers:
.333 AVG/.375 OBP/.467 SLG/.842 OPS/81 PA

PH for Giambi? With who? Molina? Betemit?

That’s the problem with Sexson gone now. Giambi has to face LHP.