Manhandled

There's no better word to describe what the Yankees did to the Twins last night. The Twinkies got absolutely manhandled. Yankees roll 10-1.
It was good to see Andy Pettitte bounce back from a so-so first start. It's looking like the weather had a definite impact on things. You could tell yesterday that he and Jorge were more in sync. Jorgie still had the white-out manicure so I'm inclined to think the issues from his first start were possibly related to seeing the signs. I wouldn't say AP ever got into trouble, but if he needed the outs. He got 'em. In the 2nd inning, Cuddyer reached 3rd with 1 down. Pettitte followed up by whiffing Torri Hunter and Josh Rabe. In the 4th, the Twins leadoff the inning with back-to-back singles. Pettitte induces the DP and the Twins don't score. You have to love ground ball pitchers. Only 2 of Pettitte's 18 outs came on fly balls. With a solid defense behind him, he's going to continue to have outings like that. His struggles in his first outing were in large part to the shoddy defense. We all know the Yankee D is better than they played that night. The rotation is returning to form, as I expected. You couldn't really put much stock in the first 5 games. I'm too lazy to retype why, so just click here if interested.
Another A-Bomb from A-Rod. Dude is on fire. Many predicted he'd have a monster year as it's almost like it's a walk year for him. He's not disappointing. 6 HRs in his first 7 games. That's a Yankee record. If he had hit a 2nd HR yesterday he would have tied the MLB record held by Mike Schmidt. I have something I want to say, but for fear of jinxing Alex, I'll hold my comments. The Yankee lineup now features 6 regulars hitting above .300, the lowest being Cano at .312 and the highest being Johnny Damon at .429. Damon appears to be fully recovered from the calf cramps. 1000 runs, here we come.
The bullpen again looked sharp. Proctor is really the only who has struggled. He almost escaped his inning unscathed, but when you walk the first 2 batters of the inning, you're in trouble. Vizcaino again looked sharp and Mo, well, he's just Mo. 3 up, 3 down.
Tonight's the big matchup between Dice-K and King Felix. This game has Dice-K written all over it. The Mariners are the worst hitting team in the league, batting a ******** .167 as a team. How they are 2-2 is beyond me? Even Ichiro is striking out 3 times a game. Unheard of. This game is tailor-made for Matsuzaka. Combine the M's weak offense with the fact they they've never seen Dice-K before, and you've got the potential for a no-no. Nobody should be surprised if Matsuzaka turns in a dominant performance. It's a no-brainer.
Moose gets the ball tonight. It's his turn to one-up his predecessors. It'll be hard to top Pettitte, but Moose is more than capable.
Peace, love and Pinstripes.
J-Boogie