What Just Happened?

Holy wow. I did not expect to see that. The "that" that I'm referring to, as I'm sure you all know, is the 3-run walkoff by light-hitting Marco Scutaro off the best closer in the history of baseball. The ending of yesterday's game was a lot like an episode of "Lost." I sat there with a puzzled look on my face saying to myself "what the heck just happened?" It was unreal. I didn't see it coming. Never in a million years would I have imagined that game ending in that way. Stunned I was. Sorry, my inner Yoda sometimes rears it's head. You have to give the A's a little credit for that. Kendall's at-bat was the key to that dramatic victory. He worked that walk and you have to tip your hat to that. Mo made the mistake of leaving the pitch right over the plate and Scutaro jacked it off the fair pole. It sounded like the pitch was supposed to be high and inside. You know, the typical Mo pitch in on the hands that breaks the bat and usually ends up as a weak grounder? Mo missed his spot, and Scutaro made him pay. It's the next day and I still am shocked. But, it's nothing to worry about. It's 1 game. As nice as it would be to win them all, you're not going to. Don't forget the season is a marathon, not a sprint. No reason to start jumping off bridges. Now Mo has fallen victim before to some bad beats. The 2004 ALCS and 2001 World Series immediately come to mind. He's not going to pull a Brad Lidge and become an awful closer. The great closers have the ability to forget about a bad beat shortly after it's over. Mo has shown time and time again that he can deal with the occasional bad outing. He'll be fine.
It would have been nice to leave Oakland with a win and a 4-2 record on that roadie, but as they say, it is what it is. You can't be terribly upset with how the Yankees have played. The rotation, which now resembles a MASH unit, has been rock-solid over their last 6 starts. They've combined for a 1.36 ERA over that span. Compare that to the first 5 games when it was 9.97 and you've got quite a difference. Putting aside the injuries, any concerns about the rotation should be gone. Pettitte has been absolutely outstanding in his last 2 starts. 13 IP, 10 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, ERA 0.69. It was a shame he didn't get the win yesterday. He was outstanding. He gave the Yankees exactly what they needed by going 7 innings.
Even with Mo's blown save, the Yankees still have one of, if not the best bullpens in the American League. The pen has a collective ERA of 2.59, which is tops in the AL. They also lead the AL in BAA at .165, 37 percentage points ahead of the Red Sox, who currently rank 2nd. If you ask me, that's pretty darn good, especially when you take into account the blown save and the subpar performance of Kyle Farnsworth. The bullpen has been the biggest surprise for the Yankees to date. They've kept, and will continue to keep, the Yankees in pretty much every ball game. As soon as the offense heats back up, the Yanks will start rolling. The pitching staff as a whole is actually doing very well all things considered. They currently rank 4th in the AL in overall team ERA (3.72). Who would have predicted that after the first 5 games? The Yankee pitching staff is much better than people give it credit for. It's definitely not a 5-6 pitching staff. Blame the defense for that one. You could say that Jeter's error in the 1st yesterday, his 6th, cost the Yankees the game in the grand scheme of things. Pettitte likely pitches a shutout if he makes the play. but he didn't and that's how it goes. The defense needs to step up their game b/c they're definitely underperforming.
Anyone concerned about the Yankees 5-6 record needs to relax. The Yankees started 5-6 in 2006. They ended up with 97 wins and won the division. They started 4-7 (and were 11-19) in 2005. They ended up with 95 wins and won the division. They started 5-6 in 2004. They ended up with 101 wins and won the division. Anybody see a pattern here? The slow start is no reason to panic. As I mentioned earlier, the season is a marathon, not a sprint. You don't need to be quick out of the gate to win the race. Look at the Tigers from last year. They started hot, faded, and almost missed out on the postseason. The Yankees are a team built to win over the long haul. Staying healthy will be the biggest obstacle to the Yankees success. Cashman has re-stocked the farm so there are plenty of viable options within in the event of a long-term injury. Knock on wood.
Chase Wright is coming up from AA Trenton to start Tuesday's game against the Indians. We saw a little bit from Chase this spring and he had a pretty solid campaign. He's off to a blazing hot 2007. As a matter of fact, the whole Trenton pitching staff is on fire. As a staff, they've got a team ERA of 1.29 through their first 9 games. Wright has been lights out in his 2 starts. 14 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 19 K. Notice I didn't list any runs given up. Impressive. What's more impressive is the 19:1 K to BB ratio. He has his work cut out for him as the Indians have a pretty powerful offense. It should make for an interesting debut.
The first meeting with Boston is this weekend. As of right now, the pitching match-ups definitely favor the Sox. They'll likely have Schilling, Beckett and Matsuzaka going up against Pettitte, and most likely Jeff Karstens and then Chase Wright. With the current state of the Yankee rotation, the last 2 starts are up in the air, but all signs point to a Karstens return this weekend, and assuming Wright's audition against the Tribe goes well, he'll likely get that shot. the good news is that there is a strong possibility that the Yanks will have both Wang and Mussina available for the Yanks/Sox series in the Bronx. Last night on the Sox And Pinstripes radio show that the 2 teams would split the 6 games. The two always play each other tough. This year is going to be no exception. It's almost time to renew the rivalry.
Bring it on.
J
Editor's note- It took me almost 4 hours to write this. Why does work have to cut into play time?