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I agree with close to 100% of what my buddy Keith says. HOWEVAH, today he said the first thing in the history of our friendship that I took issue with.

"Come out tonight! It's a must-win situation!"

If there's baseball to be played the following day, regardless of the game's outcome, then it's not a must win.

Nevertheless, I am very happy they won this "highly desirable win" situation.

I am also very confused about how the game played out.

Yesterday, I'm looking at the pitching matchup and I see 2 guys who are in dead heat in the "Who Can Drive Their Fans the Craziest?" contest.

Ricky Romero and Phil Hughes both have unequivocal, raw talent. They also both have trouble figuring out what works. You know? It's kind of like you realize the "trick" to something. Like when you throw your back out and find the one position that it doesn't hurt. And then it's like, Ok great! I just need to sit like a circus contortionist all day, and I'm good!

Hughes and Romero seem to just like stumble into their contortionist positions and then it's nirvana and then the next day they sneeze and fall out of them.

Ricky didn't have too ugly an outing, though. He only gave up a handle of hits, but that doesn't really matter when you're in the middle of winless streak of so many games that you need a 3rd hand to keep track of them. (This is assuming, of course, that you mentally archive pitching stats by virtue of the ol' finger abacus.)

Hughes gave up 4 hits, one of which was a homerun to someone with all sorts of different letters in his name. (Adeiny Hechevarria. If that doesn't sound like the name of a rare, deadly strain of bacteria, then I don't know what's what. Well, congrats, on your first long ball. Staphylococcus as nothing on you.)

So as much as Adeiny belongs in a petri dish, that's how little Steve Pearce belongs in the New York Yankees' clean up spot. 

That was one of the weirdest things I've seen all season. I mean, even weirder than when the Yankees were playing the Socks and Jeter dropped a can of corn. You have a roster filled with all-stars, a team notorious for relying on their slugging, and you think, "Hm..yeah, no one here would be good for the 4 spot. Let's pick up some also-ran from the NL and stick him in this pivotal spot. Yeah. That's what Ima do!" 

Oh, yeah, and R-Mart was batting 5th. These are all interesting decisions, and as I said in an earlier post, it looks more and more like Girardi is going the way of the Maddon Method of Ostentatious Intellect. 

Swisher went yard, as usual, and Grandy knocked in a run with a sac fly. That was all the Yankees needed to take down the BEST OFFENSE IN BASEBALL! MINUS BAUTISTA!

Hey, our offense is minus Arod and Tex. But the thing is, I don't even know where the keys to the team lie anymore. It keeps getting passed around. Are Arod and Tex our guys? Or is it Swisher and Jeter? Kuroda? Cano? When Mo went down, it was devastating because you know that's where our bullpen strength is. No question. He was the key.

But now? Who's winning the games? 

Also, I don't know if this needs to be solved. Unless the Yankees get stranded on a deserted island without food, water, or toilet, and are forced to start to eat themselves, like in that movie Alive. Then we might need to identify where the talent is most concentrated, because that person gets immunity from cannibalism.

On that note, GOOD WIN, YANKEES!

You didn't HAVE to win, but you did. Cheers to keeping it up. Not to alarm you, but the Birds are 3.5 games back. You only need 1 hand to count that. 

That and horse height. 

3 Comments:

  1. Dave H. said...
    Hughes owes that W to Cano for his jump-grab-throw in the top of the 6th for the DP. Hughes was letting things get away from him by starting off the inning with two BBs, and Cano slammed the lid on that inning before serious damage got done. Looking at the very similar lines of Hughes and Romero, that one play was the difference btw a W and a L.
    Unknown said...
    Love it - great column...
    John C. said...
    Two maddeningly inconsistant pitchers vs two lousy lineups. It was like a resistable force hitting a moveable object.

    Still, good result :-)

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