July 10th @ The Angels
Oh, my, it’s like watching the 2002 ALDS all over again – the way the Yankees “pitched” and “fielded” in this one.
And, if that’s not bad enough, you have to watch Scott Boras in the middle of your picture, every time they use the center field camera, standing there behind home plate. Com’on Scott…A-Rod knows you’re there. Please, sit down.
Chamberlain, Melancon and Bruney each allowed 2+ earned runs in this one. The last time this season the Yankees had a game where three pitchers allowed 2+ ER each was back on April 18th when Cleveland beat New York, 22-4. Ugly, man, ugly.
Yanks had 14 hits in this game too. The last time this season the Yankees had 14+ hits in a game and lost was way back on April 25th when Boston beat New York, 16-11. Ugly, man, ugly.
Just a brutual game for the Yanks.
And, let the Joba discussion begin…
Joba’s start was similar to his last one, giving up a large lead. He seems unable to deal effectviely right now with errors behind him on the field. For most younger pitchers who go through this, it is part of the adjustment process. Sometimes it requires a return to the minors to work through the challenges, but it is hard to see how the Yankees, already down one starter, can afford to do that at the moment. So the team will just have to hope he can work through it. And we know now it isn’t the catcher…..
The Yankees are ‘all in’ with Joba as a starter. My own positive spin is that he has the ‘stuff’: He has the physical ability to throw pitches that other pitchers just cannot do. What he needs is to learn how to use it. And if he takes advantage of the deep resources on this team then he can develop into a solid starter.
Didn’t Flash, on YES last night, talk about how Joba’s stuff was lacking in this start? FWIW, he did say he liked the way that he went after hitters, attacking the zone, but, on more than one occassion Flash said that Joba’s fastball was just average and that his breaking stuff was inconsistent.
I thought the biggest problem last night was batters’ not swinging at breaking balls and borderline fastballs. These all got called for balls and then he’s pitching behind in the count. Bad luck? Bad umpiring? Is he signaling pitches? Whatever.
Nevertheless, he should be able to throw a fastball in a fastball count and get an out. He also needs to toughen up after bad breaks.
[...] Friday’s Yanks-Angels game, I wrote that it was “like watching the 2002 ALDS all over again.” You could probably ditto that [...]