August 26th vs. The Rangers
I have to admit, I got a little scared during the 1st inning of this game. Pettitte getting out of that bases loaded jam was huge, and set him up to toss another gem. With this latest outing, Andy improves to 3-1 with a 2.79 ERA in 51.2 innings since the All Star Break. He looks as good as I’ve ever seem him lately and, with him pitching like this, it’s a no-brainer to pencil him in the 3rd spot of the playoff rotation.
As for the offense, they got the better of young Derek Holland roughing him up for 6 earned runs in 6 innings. The offense was pretty much running on all cylinders, with even Hairston getting in the mix with a solo jack. Speaking of Hairston, what a pick up for the Yanks huh? This guy has played almost every position on the field and has not embarassed the team with his bat. While with the Yanks so far this year, he has hit to the following slash rates : .314/.415/.543. While it’s obvious that he won’t continue to hit at such a high level, he is, right now, exactly what the yankees want Ramiro Pena to become.
Lastly, did anyone else cringe when Posada’s glove hand got clipped with the foul tip? I was afraid that maybe he actually broke it this time. Luckily, it’s relatively fine and the Yankees are in a position where they can give Jorge a few days off to let his finger heal a little bit.
When it’s all said and done, after a tough loss the Yankees came firing right back with a nice victory against a playoff caliber team. Is it just me, or does it feel like this team, this year, is playing out a Yankeeography?
- Posted By Corey
Dear #62, I hope you were taking notes during this game. Sincerely, #46.
@ clintfsu813:
agreed.
it’s a no-brainer to pencil him in the 3rd spot of the playoff rotation.
———-
Pencil? You better chisel that shit in stone. There is no one else to make the 3rd start other than Andy. It’s not Mitre, it’s not Gaudin and it sure as hell isn’t the Nebraska Jelly Doughnut.
@ clintfsu813:
Well put.
@ MJ:
and to think, it was only a month or 2 ago i was trying to convince you guys Andy would make a come back and that if healthy, he’s a 2nd half pitcher
Corey ,I wasn’t a total Ap doubter. Notice my typical Butch assessment of the playoffs of the last month and a half: CC has been middling to bad, AJ has never pitched in the playoffs and Andy has been pretty good in the playoffs. Look Ap looked shaky in the second half last year, so i could see people havingthinking that he was done.
Corey, I hope that this season plays out to be a Yankeeography season BUT I’m a bit cynical. I’m a self professed pessimisstic old fart BTW! I’ve seen so many seasons where they looked so good during the regular season and then floundered in the playoffs.
Poor Joba the Hut, he’s too fat, pumps his fist victoriously when the Red Sox are beating him, and shows glimmers of brilliance. He’s still going through those baby steps/ growing pains that young pitchers do.IF he was on another team those baby steps would be tolerated BUT these are the Yankees. I really don’t think Cash Man would keep Joba out of the 4 spot in a 7 game playoff series….unless of course he bombs in every game from now on. Can you imagine the Yanks using Mitre OR Gaudin in lieu of Joba in the playoffs? Stranger things have happened….
@ Corey:
100% true. Props to you and I’ll be the first to say I was wrong on him.
Can you imagine the Yanks using Mitre OR Gaudin in lieu of Joba in the playoffs? Stranger things have happened….
———
no. lol.
I would think they’d use Sept/early Oct. to stretch out Hughes or Aceves in the event that they needed someone to start that 4th game of a playoff series. For better, or worse, Joba is the #4 man right now though.
actually, it might not be a bad idea to stretch one of them out anyway…I’m a fan of having a good long man during the playoffs in case a starter doesn’t have it…that way you can yank him quick and not wreck the pen..kinda like what Hughes did in ’07.
There’s one team that set the gold standard for modern NYY teams — it’s a little more than a decade behind us now but I’ll bet I’m only one of many who’d call those old mental pictures the real image of ‘team’, and can remember exactly how they moved on and off the field together in a way that told you even without seeing them play that they were one group, with a mission.
That’s what I want to be reminded of…