completely agree here mj.

Raf wrote:

Has anyone seen Lannan’s game logs before this start? While he may not be an ace, he isn’t exactly chopped liver either.

I’m familiar with Lannan and I agree that he’s not chopped liver. Even still, the Yanks could’ve and should’ve done better against him. As someone else wrote, the Yanks totally let him dictate the pace of the game and took bad AB’s against him (too many swings at pitches early in counts). They looked unprofessional out there on back to back nights.

G.I. Joey wrote:

@ MJ:
I just found out that Lannan is from Long Beach. He probably had alot of family and friends there and rose to the occasion.

Yep, he went to Chaminade on Hillside Ave. in Mineola!

@ MJ:

I just found out that Lannan is from Long Beach. He probably had alot of family and friends there and rose to the occasion.

The Wanger is not back 100% yet, but he looked like he’s on the road to become a somewhat reliable part of the staff again . I heard the grade of C bandied about on the YES and Sny Sportsnite last night regarding the Wanger’s performance, that sounds about right.

Arod though has been pretty bloody abysmal. The 27 million dollar man indeed….I will defend him this time round though. At least,he got on base and didn’t pop out. Yeah, it would have been great for him to have had a walk off home run OR even a productive out BUT at least he didn’t pop out.One can microanalyze his at bat, but ultimately Robinson Cannot was the goat not Arod.

AS for the starter/reliever conversion debate, many people look at the Yankee pen and don’t see very much with the exception of an older Mo. To make it in the regular season and in the postseason to a much larger degree, a team needs a great pen. The Yankees simply don’t have one. I understand the fans who worry about that BUT they can’t take kids that can potentially become big time starters and go 6 or 7 innings to become relievers. The dearth of starting pitching is so enormous in baseball is that a team needs a surplus of starting pitching. @Ken, does Hughes have stuff that is that overpowering to become closer? I’m not the biggest fan of his BUT the kid is a starter, they should keep him there long term IMO.

It is so strange that this team is weak at the knees of young piitchers they’ve never seen before. Chumping out against Halladay is one thing,but they have a hard time against these kids like Lannan or Nieve who are not exactly world beaters. It seems that Kevin Long is very detailed on his pre-series work regarding opposing pitchers, so what is the problem? It’s a mystery to me……

Raf wrote:

Has anyone seen Lannan’s game logs before this start? While he may not be an ace, he isn’t exactly chopped liver either.

Yes. I tried to make this point earlier, but it hasn’t shown up yet. In any event, because I’m impatient, I’ll reiterate.

Lannan is 25 and hasn’t had an ERA+ below 100 in his career. He’s not great, but he’s a good, young pitcher. The only reason people haven’t heard of him is that he pitches for the Nationals.

When I suggested that Hughes might replace Mo as the closer I was thinking about a year or two in the future. Not this season.
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Of course, I think what he was referring to in his response was how Yankee fans feel the need to take guys like Joba and Hughes, who have had or are having bullpen success, and say they can be Mo’s replacement when Mo’s replacement isn’t exactly necessary at this point.

Anybody can close a game, just look at guys like Ryan Franklin who was an AL castoff that nobody wanted and now has 16 saves for the Cardinals. Todd Jones was a guy with no “stuff” and an ERA around 4.00 for the Tigers the last few years and closed for a team that went to the World Series. I believe somebody also said Armando Benitez had 289 career saves, and we all know how good of a pitcher he was. In other words, closers can be drafted, traded for, purchased as a FA or picked up out of the trash…we’ll find a closer when Mo’s career is done.

i thought the most frustrating part of last night was the way they just completely let lannan dictate the pace. he was working quick (to his credit – wish more pitchers did it), but they just allowed him to do it. no stepping out. no calling time. no taking a few extra seconds to look down at third for signs. no long walks in between at bats. it was like because lannan was in a rush to get back on the rubber, they were in a rush to get back in the box, and it got worse as the game went along. when a pitcher is in a rhythm like this, you want to get him working slower, at your pace, not faster at his. in my opinion, this is on the players initially but then on the coaches. if they aren’t going to insist the team as a whole make adjustments like this, what are they there for? your team is getting sped up, and it is in their best interest to slow down. so please, slow them down. lannan worked the 7th and 8th in about 30 seconds each it seemed.

Has anyone seen Lannan’s game logs before this start? While he may not be an ace, he isn’t exactly chopped liver either.

When I suggested that Hughes might replace Mo as the closer I was thinking about a year or two in the future. Not this season.